Exploring opportunities to strengthen rural tuberculosis health service delivery: a qualitative study with health workers in Tibet autonomous region, China

• Published in: BMJ open 2024-05, Vol.14 (5), p.e079062-e079062
• Main Authors: Haldane, Victoria, Zhang, Zhitong, Yin, Tingting, Zhang, Bei, Li, Yinlong, Pan, Qiuyu, Dainty, Katie N, Rea, Elizabeth, Pasang, Pande, Hu, Jun, Wei, Xiaolin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Community health care; Community Health Workers - education; Delivery of Health Care - organization & administration; Disease control; Female; Health facilities; Health Personnel - education; Health services; Health Services Research; Hospitals; Humans; Interviews; Interviews as Topic; Male; Medical referrals; Middle Aged; Physicians; Primary care; Primary Health Care - methods; Primary Health Care - organization & administration; Public health; Qualitative Research; Quality in health care; Research ethics; Rural areas; Rural Health Services - organization & administration; Tibet; Tuberculosis; Tuberculosis - prevention & control; Tuberculosis - therapy; Workers
• ISSN: 2044-6055; 2044-6055
• DOI: 10.1136/bmjopen-2023-079062

ObjectivesThis qualitative study aimed to explore opportunities to strengthen tuberculosis (TB) health service delivery from the perspectives of health workers providing TB care in Shigatse prefecture of Tibet Autonomous Region, China.DesignQualitative research, semi-structured in-depth interviews.SettingThe TB care ecosystem in Shigatse, including primary and community care.ParticipantsParticipants: 37 semi-structured interviews were conducted with village doctors (14), township doctors and nurses (14), county hospital doctors (7) and Shigatse Centre for Disease Control staff (2).ResultsThe three main themes reported include (1) the importance of training primary and community health workers to identify people with symptoms of TB, ensure TB is diagnosed and link people with TB to further care; (2) the need to engage community health workers to ensure retention in care and adherence to TB medications; and (3) the opportunity for innovative technologies to support coordinated care, retention in care and adherence to medication in Shigatse.ConclusionsThe quality of TB care could be improved across the care cascade in Tibet and other high-burden, remote settings by strengthening primary care through ongoing training, greater support and inclusion of community health workers and by leveraging technology to create a circle of care. Future formative and implementation research should include the perspectives of health workers at all levels to improve care organisation and delivery.