Evaluation of the Directly Observed Treatment’s Acceptance by Tuberculosis Patients in the Republic of Macedonia

Ilievska Poposka, Biljana and Zakoska, Maja and Mitreski, Vladimir (2018) Evaluation of the Directly Observed Treatment’s Acceptance by Tuberculosis Patients in the Republic of Macedonia. Open Access Macedonian Journal of Medical Sciences. 2018 May, 6 (5). pp. 896-900.

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Directly observed therapy (DOT) is a specific strategy endorsed by the World Health
Organization in 1994 to improve adherence by requiring health workers, community volunteers or family members
to observe and record tuberculosis (TB) patients for taking each dose. The implementation of DOT strategy in the
National Tuberculosis Programme (NTP) in Macedonia was introduced in 2006 and was realised by 6 nurses
engaged through the Project of Global Fund against HIV/AID and TB.
AIM: This study aimed to evaluate how these visits conducted by the DOT nurses engaged through the GF were
accepted by TB patients and to evaluate the impact on the treatment outcomes.
PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this prospective study 105 TB patients who started treatment in 2016 and who
were supposed to be visited by DOT nurses at their homes were included. All of these patients filled out a
questionnaire compiled of 6 questions related to their opinion about the efficacy and usefulness of the visits
managed by the nurses when they would come for check-ups at the Institute for Lung Diseases and Tuberculosis.
The assessment of the efficacy of the work of DOT nurses was performed by analysis of the answers received by
TB patients. The data were analysed with the method of description and was statistically prepared in the program
SPSS for Windows, 17.0.
RESULTS: The results from the analyses showed that the number of visited patients were not satisfied, because
29.52%% were never visited by a DOT nurse at their homes. A lot of patients (61.91%) were not willing to take
medicines under the observed control by nurses. Those TB patients who were visited by DOT nurses thought that
this type of visit is useful for them: they were satisfied by the attitude of the nurses during the visits, and they
received enough explanations regarding TB.
CONCLUSION: We can conclude that the DOT visits to TB patients are useful, contribute patients to complete
the therapeutic regime without interruption, take care for every individual patient effectively, and protect the rest of
society by preventing the development and spread of TB, including drug-resistant strains.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	Medical and Health Sciences > Health biotechnology
Divisions:	Faculty of Medical Science
Depositing User:	Biljana Ilievska Poposka
Date Deposited:	03 Mar 2021 12:19
Last Modified:	03 Mar 2021 12:19
URI:	https://eprints.ugd.edu.mk/id/eprint/27878

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