Practice regarding tuberculosis care among physicians at private facilities: A cross-sectional study from Vietnam

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the practice of TB care among physicians at private facilities. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted using questionnaires on knowledge, attitude, and practice related to TB care. The responses to these scales were used to explore latent constructs and calculate the standardized continuous scores for these domains. We described the percentages of participant’s responses and explored their associated factors using multiple linear regression. RESULTS: A total of 232 physicians were recruited. The most important gaps in practice included requesting chest imaging to confirm TB diagnosis (~80%), not testing HIV for confirmed active TB cases (~50%), only requesting sputum testing for MDR-TB cases (65%), only requesting follow-up examination at the end of the treatment course (64%), and not requesting sputum testing at follow-up (54%). Surgical mask was preferred to N95 respirator when examining TB patients. Prior TB training was associated with better knowledge and less stigmatizing attitude, which were associated with better practice in both TB management and precautions. CONCLUSION: There were important gaps in knowledge, attitude, and practice of TB care among private providers. Better knowledge was associated with positive attitude towards TB and better practice. Tailored training may help to address these gaps and improve the quality of TB care in the private sector.