ArticleBMJ open quality2023
Use of a context-specific package to increase sputum smear monitoring among people with pulmonary tuberculosis in Uganda: a quality improvement study.
Article in BMJ open quality, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.
- Return to care of children and adolescents living with HIV who missed their clinic visits or were lost to follow-up: a continuous quality improvement study in Uganda.BMJ open quality · 2025Article
- Article
- A scoping review of continuous quality improvement in healthcare system: conceptualization, models and tools, barriers and facilitators, and impact.BMC health services research · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPeople with bacteriologically confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis (BC-PTB) require sputum smear monitoring (SSM) to ascertain response to anti-TB treatment and cure from TB disease. We aimed to increase SSM at 2, 5 and 6 months among people with BC-PTB from the baseline (March to July 2021) of 68%, 37% and 39%, respectively, to 90% in February 2022 by implementing a context-specific improvement package at a rural health facility in northeastern Uganda.
methodsWe designed a continuous quality improvement (CQI) study for people with BC-PTB, developed and tested an improvement package that consisted of the following context-specific measures: (1) line listing of all eligible persons for SSM; (2) use of reminder stickers to identify eligible persons for SSM; (3) use of community health workers to conduct home visits for people with missed clinic visits; and (4) integration of SSM into community-based ART points for distant persons. We implemented the measures using the plan-do-study-act cycle and tracked the progress in SSM through monthly data reviews and analyses.
resultsSSM at 2 months improved from 68% (17/25) at the baseline to 74% (32/43) during phase I (p=0.818) and then to 94% (17/18) during phase II (p=0.562). SSM at 5 months improved from 37% (11/29) at the baseline to 82% (41/50) during phase I (p=0.094) and then to 100% (10/10) during phase II (p=0.688). SSM at 6 months improved from 39% (9/23) at the baseline to 59% (28/39) during phase I (p=0.189) and then to 100% (12/12) during phase II (p=0.487).
conclusionThe use of a context-relevant CQI package was accompanied by improved SSM at 2, 5 and 6 months among people with BC-PTB. Trends are encouraging but this should be considered as preliminary report because of limited numbers. These data can inform the design of a fully powered randomised controlled trial.
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