title: Assessment of Knowledge and Practices of Referring Private Practitioners Regarding Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme in Nagpur City - A Cross Sectional Study creator: Khadse, J creator: Bhardwaj, SD creator: Ruikar, M subject: Online Journal of Health and Allied Sciences description: Objectives: To assess knowledge, diagnostic and treatment practices of the referring private practitioners of Nagpur city regarding Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP). Methods: The study involved interview of 103 Private Practitioners (PPs) of Nagpur city. Knowledge of private practitioners was assessed based on questions related to diagnosis, categorization, treatment regimens & follow up. Practices of private practitioners were assessed based on which investigations and treatment regimen they advise & whether they offer supervised treatment. Their willingness to get involved in the programme was also recorded. Results: Only 49 (47.6%) private practitioners knew sputum smear examination as primary tool of diagnosis of TB. Only half, 52 (50.5%) of the private practitioners knew number of categories of tuberculosis correctly and 64 (62.1%) private practitioners did know how to categorize TB patients. Chest X-ray and Mantoux test (38.5%) was mainly used by the PPs for TB diagnosis. 42.7% of PPs were prescribing treatment for TB and among them only 8 were prescribing as per RNTCP guidelines and just one provided treatment under direct observation. Different combination of HRZE and HRZES was prescribed for variable period ranges from 2-8 months. And only 12 (11.6%) private practitioners expressed their willingness to get involved in RNTCP for TB control. Conclusion: There is lack of adequate knowledge, diagnostic and treatment practice among PPs as per RNTCP guidelines and further encouragement is required for their participation in the programme. publisher: BS Kakkilaya contributor: Kakkilaya, Dr Srinivas date: 2012-01-15 type: Journal (On-line/Unpaginated) type: PeerReviewed format: application/pdf identifier: http://cogprints.org/8852/1/2011-4-2.pdf identifier: Khadse, J and Bhardwaj, SD and Ruikar, M (2012) Assessment of Knowledge and Practices of Referring Private Practitioners Regarding Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme in Nagpur City - A Cross Sectional Study. [Journal (On-line/Unpaginated)] relation: http://cogprints.org/8852/