How to investigate Adherence to Antiretroviral Treatment ... - INRUD

How to Investigate Adherence to Antiretroviral Treatment in Health Facilities: Adherence Indicators
Table 6. Attendance Months to Retrospectively Sample and the Month to Look at for
Judging the Attendance of the Next Appointment
Survey Data Collection
Month
Retrospective sample for those
patients attending 7 months
before, during the previous month
of:
For looking at attending next
appointment
Start with visit 4 months before in
the previous month of:
January 2008 June 2007 September 2007
February 2008 July 2007 October 2007
March 2008 August 2007 November 2007
April 2008 September 2007 December 2007
May 2008 October 2007 January 2008
June 2008 November 2007 February 2008
July 2008 December 2007 March 2008
August 2008 January 2008 April 2008
September 2008 February 2008 May 2008
October 2008 March 2008 June 2008
November 2008 April 2008 July 2008
December 2008 May 2008 August 2008
Retrospective Sampling Methods
If present, the pharmacy or clinic attendance register is the primary source of data for
identifying patients in treatment who attended in the required month.
Situation 1. Functioning attendance register and patient identification numbers
If there is an attendance register that distinguishes between those on ART and those not on
ART, and if a patient identification number is recorded there that can be used to find the
relevant clinical and pharmacy records, the following method can be adopted. If there is a
register in the pharmacy, then this is preferable as it will be the pharmacy records that are
being examined.
The sample of visits should be spread evenly across the month. Simple or systematic random
sampling is acceptable. For example, if there were 300 patient attendances of patients on
ART during that month and you want to choose 120, then to find the sampling interval you
can divide 300 by 120 to get 2.5. Then randomly take the first or second patient on the list
and alternately take every second and third patient. Take the Patient Selection Sheet
(Appendix 2) and fill in each patient identification number and the date of the visit for a
hundred and twenty patients.
Alternatively, if for example there are 30 pages of patients, then it is quite acceptable to
choose randomly four patients per page (120/30) taking one near the top, two near the
middle, and one near the bottom.
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