Weak Intra-facility Referral Linkages: Missed Opportunity for Tuberculosis Case Detection and Treatment in a Tertiary Health Facility in Benue State, Nigeria

Despite the scale up of quality-assured Tuberculosis diagnostic and treatment strategies over the years, case detection rate remains a serious challenge globally and particularly in Nigeria. Integrated service delivery is essential to addressing some of the challenges, but it's often neglected especially in low income settings. Recognizing these limitations, a 27-months retrospective review of all presumptive Pulmonary Tuberculosis cases sent to the directly observed short course treatment centre of Benue State University Teaching Hospital, a tertiary health institution in north central Nigeria was conducted to assess the source of referrals and diagnostic processes including outcome of the tests. Chisquare (χ2) test was used for test of association between the intra-facility linkages/referrals system and the tuberculosis case detection rate, with statistical significance set at p-value of ≤5%. There were 918 presumptive Tuberculosis cases with males to females ratio (M: F) of 1:1.3. The mean age of patients was 41.0.0 ±18.4 years. Majority (33.7%, n=) of the referrals were from general outpatient department of the hospital, followed by sexually transmitted infection clinic (26.0%) and Paediatrics department (1.6%, n=). The diagnostic positive rate was 145(15.8%). Overall, 295(32.2%) did not collect their results, of these 76(25.8%) were positive and 219(74.2%) were negative. The relationship between the missed cases and the weak intra-facility referral linkages was statistically significant (p=0.000). The hospital management should consider the engagement of all relevant health care providers on efficient two-way referral system towards ensuring adequate Tuberculosis case notification and prompt treatment.