Published on LMS

Patient Identifiers are key for identifying a patient in the Nikshay. Ideally, there should be only one identifier for each patient which identifies patient as well as processes for lifetime. However, during the continuum of care, one identifier may not be appropriate to represent the episodes and other processes. Hence there are various ids which are tagged to one patient in Nikshay. Knowing each ID and its purpose is therefore important. The various IDs that are present in Nikshay and their purpose are described below:

Nikshay being the final updated repository of information of TB patient services, different roles perform various actions on the patient and TB service information in Nikshay and keep it updated. These roles range from health volunteers and treatment supporters on the field to health providers and doctors at health facilities. Each role acts on or inputs information based on the services he/she provides. The information is required to updated when it is generated by the person generating it (eg by the CBNAAT LT once the results of a CBNAAT test is available). 

Bidirectional screening is a method to identify cases in diseases which have predisposition to each other or has a significant influence on each other. For example TB and HIV, where having HIV increases risk of developing TB and cases with TB would have poor outcomes if co-infected with HIV.

Screening for TB is done through four-symptoms complex based screening or through Chest X-ray. Screening for the linked disease is carried out as per the policies of the corresponding health program.

Intensified Case Finding (ICF) is a case finding approach between Active and Passive approaches. Here individuals coming in contact with the health system through any activity are screened actively for symptoms of TB and referred for testing.

This approach brings the benefit of active case finding approach by active screening for TB symptoms, but does limit the extensive effort required by restricting to only those people who has some or the other healthcare problem. This approach is considered for people attending a healthcare facility.

Systematic screening of all individuals of a defined population is known as active case finding.  It is applied outside of health facilities at the community level by the health system.

Objective of ACF is to:

TPT treatment options recommended under NTEP include:

• 3-month weekly Isoniazid and Rifapentine (3HP)
• 6-months daily isoniazid (6H)

What is the "continuum of TB Care"?

The process for testing is initiated with a request for test and ends with the reporting of test results. In built into the process of testing is also the process of specimen collection and transportation.

A nucleic acid test (NAT) is a technique used to detect a particular nucleic acid sequence. In general, a NAT is used to detect and identify a particular species or subspecies of an organism (e.g., a virus or bacteria that acts as a pathogen in blood, tissue or urine).

As the genetic material is usually present at a low level, many NATs include a step that amplifies the genetic material (i.e., makes many copies of it) – such NATs are called nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs)

The key level for the management of public health services is the district​ level. The District Tuberculosis Centre (DTC) is the nodal point for tuberculosis (TB) control activities in the district​.

Functions of the DTC

The primary role of the DTC is a managerial one. The DTC is the central program management unit of the district responsible for all activities related to National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) implementation such as: