# name
Health Worker Compliance with a 'Test And Treat' Malaria Case
                Management Protocol in Papua New Guinea

# metadata.dc.description.abstract[].value
The Papua New Guinea (PNG) Department of Health introduced a
                'test and treat' malaria case management protocol in 2011. This
                study assesses health worker compliance with the test and treat
                protocol on a wide range of measures, examines self-reported
                barriers to health worker compliance as well as health worker
                attitudes towards the test and treat protocol. Data were
                collected by cross-sectional survey conducted in randomly
                selected primary health care facilities in 2012 and repeated in
                2014. The combined survey data included passive observation of
                current or recently febrile patients (N = 771) and interviewer
                administered questionnaires completed with health workers (N =
                265). Across the two surveys, 77.6% of patients were tested for
                malaria infection by rapid diagnostic test (RDT) or microscopy,
                65.6% of confirmed malaria cases were prescribed the correct
                antimalarials and 15.3% of febrile patients who tested negative
                for malaria infection were incorrectly prescribed an
                antimalarial. Overall compliance with a strictly defined test
                and treat protocol was 62.8%. A reluctance to test
                current/recently febrile patients for malaria infection by RDT
                or microscopy in the absence of acute malaria symptoms,
                reserving recommended antimalarials for confirmed malaria cases
                only and choosing to clinically diagnose a malaria infection,
                despite a negative RDT result were the most frequently reported
                barriers to protocol compliance. Attitudinal support for the
                test and treat protocol, as assessed by a nine-item measure,
                improved across time. In conclusion, health worker compliance
                with the full test and treat malaria protocol requires
                improvement in PNG and additional health worker support will
                likely be required to achieve this. The broader evidence base
                would suggest any such support should be delivered over a longer
                period of time, be multi-dimensional and multi-modal.

# metadata.dc.relation.isformatof[].value
Reproducció del document publicat a:
                http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0158780

# metadata.dc.source[].value
Articles publicats en revistes (ISGlobal)

# metadata.dc.title[].value
Health Worker Compliance with a 'Test And Treat' Malaria Case
                Management Protocol in Papua New Guinea