A survey on resource and service utilization pattern for patients with smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis in Azadshahr district; 2013-2015

Diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis requires high utilization of resources and costs and assessing the utilization of health care resources is always important for budgeting and long-term planning in a highly dynamic health care system. This study aimed to investigate the resources and service utilization pattern of patients with smear positive tuberculosis in the Azadshahr district, Golestan province.
In this retrospective and cross-sectional study, all new patients with smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis who were registered and successfully completed their treatment at the health network of Azadshahr County, from April 2013 to October 2015, were entered to the study (45 patients). Data were collected from the patients’ records at the health care facilities, telephone interviews with patients and registry book of patients in the tuberculosis unite of health network.
The average duration of treatment and DOTS (Directly Observed Treatment, Short-Course) implementation was 195 and 158 days per patient, respectively. The average drug consumption was 741 pills and the average number of X-ray and laboratory tests (smear test) was 1.7 and 4.4 per patient, respectively. Each patient had been visited on average 8.8 times by physician and 27% of patients were hospitalized, their average length of stay was 1.8 days.
Our findings showed that the utilization pattern of resources and services in patients with tuberculosis was approximately consistent with protocols developed by World Health Organization (WHO) and Ministry of Health of Iran often.