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The manner and quality of smear reading has a major impact on the result of sputum smear microscopy and case detection. Each slide needs to be examined for at least 5 full minutes or 100 fields need to be examined.
The overall process of reading a smear is outlined in the figure below:
Figure: Process of reading a smear
Resources:
Three things are received by the Lab Technician- Sample for testing, request form, and request for test in Nikshay.
Accepting the request for testing includes the following steps:
1. The LT verifies details on the request form that has eleven parts.
A person affected by TB requires support throughout the course of treatment and beyond that. The support to a TB patient is essential to ensure that s/he completes the treatment without affecting her/his quality of life (QoL). Keeping the patient as the central figure in the continuum of care, and ensuring social and personal circumstances are supportive (not only meeting immediate requirements of medical treatment) is the key to treatment support.
A state-level meeting by the Principal Secretary of Health & Family Welfare with all members must be held to communicate the days of the Active Case Finding (ACF) campaign and take all the necessary actions needed to conduct a successful campaign in the state.
Training for ACF is given in a top to bottom manner as follows:
1. Financial Resources
Microplanning for ACF Campaign
Vulnerability mapping and Microplanning are 2 important activities of Active Case Finding which precede field activities. Vulnerable populations should be mapped and recorded in prescribed formats from health facility level onwards. Mapping data from PHI are consolidated at Block level, those at Block level are consolidated at district level and those at district level are consolidated at state level. Data from mapping formats is used for microplanning. Microplanning forms the basis of field activities. Microplans are also consolidated at subsequent levels.
Field supervision of Active Case Finding (ACF) is needed during both the preparatory phase and the implementation phase. Supervisory teams should be formed at the National, State, District, Block and Peripheral Health Institute (PHI) levels.
Field supervision during the preparatory phase:
The Field Supervisors should:
The ACF campaign has to be reported for documentation, monitoring and evaluating the performance of the activity and guiding the policy decisions.
The various formats used for reporting of performance of Active Case Finding (ACF) activities are as follows:
1. Field activity daily report
Table 1: Format for field activity daily report
Mapping of vulnerable population is a pre-requisite for conducting an efficient ACF campaign. It involves understanding the population characteristics, identifying and enumerating and mapping the target population.
Guidelines for mapping