A record of all patients identified as presumptive TB cases at the health facility as well as a record of all sputum samples sent to the laboratory.

Whenever you identify a presumptive TB case, you should list the presumptive TB case in the register.

Nurses at health facilities.

Ask the mentee to talk about their challenges.

Replaced by the presumptive TB register.

Documenting TB sputum microscopy and gene X pert results.

After conducting tests for TB investigation.

Laboratory staff.

Ask the mentee to talk about their challenges.

n/a

This form should be sent along with the patient’s sputum samples to the laboratory. After the sputum examination, the laboratory completes the results section of the form and returns it to the health facility.

Health worker requesting the investigation to be conducted initially then the laboratory completes the results section.

Clinic/ward staff and laboratory staff.

Ask the mentee to talk about their challenges.

Incomplete patient information on the request form.

Results mix up in the laboratory.

A form completed at the point of TB diagnosis to notify the district officials.

As soon as TB diagnosis is made.

Staff at the diagnosing facility such as nurses, doctors, environmental health technicians, and environmental health officers.

Ask the mentee to talk about their challenges.

Wrong case definitions being used.

A form used to trace contacts of sputum positive TB patients. These contacts can either be households or work contacts of TB patients.

After following up of contacts of sputum positive TB patients to document the outcome of contact tracing exercise.

Environmental health technician who would have contacted contact tracing.

Ask the mentee to talk about their challenges.

Wrong physical address can make it difficult to locate the contacts.

Health workers may not complete the forms.

Patient takes this card home. It contains information such as the patient’s demographic details, type of TB, treatment regimen/categories, HIV status, cotrimoxazole prophylaxis, DOT calendar, and review dates.

It is completed at diagnosis, ticked daily as the patient takes his/her medication, and updated by the health worker at every visit.

The medical section is completed by health workers at the facility, while the DOT section is ticked daily by either the facility-based health worker, community-based health worker, or family member.

Ask the mentee to talk about their challenges.

Incomplete documentation such not ticking on the DOT section and not completing the TB/HIV and cotrimoxazole prophylaxis sections.

Completed in triplicate when the TB patient intends to transfer to another district. One form remains at the diagnosing facility, the second form is given to the patient, and the third one is sent by mail to the receiving district/facility.

Completed before the patient is physically transferred to another district.

Health workers at the diagnosing facility.

Ask the mentee to talk about their challenges.

Patients going without giving notice of transfer leading to loss to follow up.

Failure to get treatment outcomes from the receiving facility/district.

Serves to retrieve treatment outcome results for patients transferred to other places from their original diagnosing centers.

Completed immediately after the patient completes treatment.

Staff at the facility where the patient would have been transferred.

Ask the mentee to talk about their challenges.

Treatment outcome feedback not given by the receiving facility/district.

A facility-based register which is used to record direct observation of treatment.

Daily as the patient takes his/her medication.

The health worker who directly supervises the patient while taking daily medication.

Ask the mentee to talk about their challenges.

Incomplete documentation making it difficult to assess adherence.

Register of all TB patients diagnosed and notified in the district. It is kept at the district hospital under the custody of the district TB coordinator.

It is completed as and when patients are notified.

The district TB coordinator or his/her representative.

Ask the mentee to talk about their challenges.

Gaps in information, e.g., actual cases diagnosed not tallying with cases in the register.

A register used in districts implementing the IPT pilot. A fairly new tool since IPT has just been rolled out to some districts/facilities.

n/a

Encourage mentee to discuss.

Ask the mentee to talk about their challenges.

Some HCW may not be familiar with it because it is new.