Abstract
Background: Contact investigation (CI) reduces tuberculosis (TB) burden. Yet, implementing CI is still low. One of CI Barriers is health workers’ knowledge and attitude about TB. Design/Methods: Mixed-methods. A focus group discussion with doctors and nurses who had TB was conducted. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 60 doctors and 178 nurses. The questionnaire measured TB knowledge, stigma and CI practice. A stepwise multiple regression analysis was employed. Results: Response rate was 100%. Almost 20% of doctors and about 14% of nurses prefer a job without exposure to TB patients. Female doctors practiced CI 2.07 scores more than male doctors (95%CI 0.21, 3.92). The internists and the pediatricians had less CI scores than the resident doctors, respectively, 3.82 scores (95%CI -6.04, -1.60) and 0.17 scores (95%CI -2.51, 2.17). For nurses, an additional one year working experience increased 0.09 CI scores (95%CI 0.01, 0.17). Nurses obtaining TB training had 2.52 CI scores more than nurses without training (95%CI 0.99, 4.05). All household contacts of doctors and nurses having TB received TB screening. But contacts at the workplace (colleagues and patients) were not systematically investigated. Conclusions: TB training may increase CI practice in nurses. Annual health check for doctors and nurses should be reinforced. When doctors and nurses have TB, their contacts in the workplaces (co-workers and patients) should receive CI.
