Management of tuberculosis by healthcare practitioners in Pakistan: A systematic review

Objective To assess the quality of tuberculosis (TB) care in Pakistan, through determining comparison of healthcare practitioners’ knowledge and practices to national and international TB care guidelines. Methods Studies reporting on knowledge, attitudes and practices of public and private practitioners with TB patients were selected through searching electronic databases and grey literature. Findings Of 1458 reports, 20 full-texts were assessed, of which 11 met the eligibility and quality criteria; all studies focused on private sector care. Heterogeneity precluded meta-analysis. In 3 of 4 studies, over 50% of practitioners correctly identified a cough as the main TB symptom. However, 4 out of 6 studies showed practitioners’ compliance to be low (under 50%) for the use of sputum microscopy in diagnosis. The poorest quality care occurred in the later stages of treatment, with low compliance in prescribing practices for continuation-phase care and in monitoring and recording treatment progress, the latter of which is particularly critical for treatment success. Conclusion TB care was variable and generally inadequate, with both a lack of knowledge and a small ‘know-do’ gap evident—practitioners did not use methods that they know they should use. A lack of recent evidence found suggests that the quality of current practices may not be fully captured and further research is needed, especially on non-allopathic, rural and public-sector contexts. Improved training of practitioners, greater availability of recommended diagnostic tools and expansion of public-private partnerships are suggestions for improving the quality of TB care in Pakistan.