Patient-provider meetings

Patient-provider meetings are important to ensure patient support and improve person retention/ treatment adherence.

Objective: To orient the patients on the course of the treatment, the importance of adherence and the risk for close contact person. It also provides a platform to discuss the difficulty in following treatment courses by the patients and the need for further counselling if required.

Purpose: The purpose of this meeting is to counsel patients in a group who are on treatment or who are about to begin treatment. This is an opportunity for free interaction between providers and patients and also an opportunity for patients to clarify their doubts, if any.

Facilitators: These meetings are organized by the treatment supporter/ Directly Observed Treatment (DOT) provider. The Senior Treatment Supervisor (STS)/ Medical Officer (MO) are to conduct these meetings.

Target Group: Patients on treatment or who are about to begin treatment. There could be 5-10 patients (minimum) in such meetings. (If there is a large number of patients at one centre, small groups of about 10 patients may be made so that better interaction takes place between patients and providers).

Participants: Block medical officer/ Medical Officer - TB Control (MO-TC), field staff (STS, TB Health Visitor (TBHV), Senior TB Lab Supervisor (STLS)), general health system staff, patients and their attendees.

Place: These meetings are to be organized at the health facility.

Duration and Frequency: These meetings can be organized once a month so that each patient who is on treatment has the opportunity to attend one such meeting during the intensive phase. The frequency of such meetings would be more than one in a month when there is a large number of patients at one health facility.

• Each meeting can be for half-hour to one hour.
• The patient may be provided refreshments (tea, snacks etc.)

Note:  Patient-provider interaction meetings are additional to, and are different from, interpersonal communication that the provider has with the patient while administering treatment.

Messages to be Provided to Patients

1. Basic information about tuberculosis, cough etiquette, etc.
2. Importance of completing treatment
3. Side-effects of drugs and how to manage these
4. Importance of follow-up sputum examination
5. Prophylaxis for children in the family
6. Do’s and don’ts including protective measures, the role of a nutritious diet, etc.

Health Communication Materials: Flip book, banner, posters on TB, etc., are to be provided and used during these meetings.

Report Writing: At the end of each meeting, a report may be prepared to state the date and time of meetings, number of patients, name of facilitators, presence of MO in the meeting, topics covered/ main points discussed in the meeting, along with major concerns mentioned by the patients.

• The report is to be prepared by the STS.
• The list of patients who attended the meeting may be attached to the report.
• It may be more convenient to have a register at each centre for such meetings, and patients can write their names in the same register.
• These may be submitted by STS to the MO-TC on a monthly basis for onward submission to the District TB Officer (DTO) to be included in the quarterly Performance Monitoring Report (PMR).

Resources 

• Training Modules (1-4) for Programme Managers and Medical Officers, 2020.
• Technical and Operational Guidelines for Tuberculosis Control, RNTCP, 2019.

Assessment