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

Chapter 5. Data Collection Tools and How to Fill Them
Q5b. Check whether these hours have changed in the last six months because we are looking
at retrospective records over the last six months (for example, the clinic may have only
been open one day a week and is now open five). Answer Y/N.
Q5c. If the hours have changed, explain the difference.
Q6. Is the clinic open at a convenient time? Answer Y/N.
A weekend or evening clinic would be easier to attend for those in regular employment.
We define open as at least a two-hour session. This must be on Saturday or Sunday or
in the evening after 5 p.m.
Q7. You must see the attendance register. Check for how well it was filled-in for the last
clinic day. If well filled in, answer yes, otherwise no.
Q8. You must see the appointment book. Check for who is expected on the day of data
collection. Check whether you can see if everyone who was due on the last clinic day
attended or not. If well filled-in, answer Yes, otherwise No.
Q9. Fill in the number of patients seen in a week
The number of patients with HIV/AIDS seen in a week should include all AIDS patients,
not just those on ARVs.
The number should be found from records, not just from what the manager estimates.
Check register for the number in last 4 weeks (28 days) and divide by 4 to get average
number per week. If numbering is a problem, count for last complete week only.
Q10.Write down the number of clinicians present at a typical clinic
The number of doctors or clinical officers in a normal clinic presents some
complications—
• They should only be counted if they are seeing HIV/AIDS patients (not general
patients)
• One difficulty is to decide who to include as a doctor or clinical officer. If
nurses are doing triage or prescribing, then they should be included.
• If a different number attend on different days or parts of days, add up the
number for each clinic and divide by the number of clinics.
o Example 1—If there are four days when there are two doctors or clinical
officers, and on the fifth day, two extras specialists attend, then we would
add up each day and divide by five.
This would be (2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 4)/5 = 12/5 = 2.4.
o
Example 2—There are three mornings when there are three doctors or
clinical officers, two mornings with two doctors, and every afternoon there
is one doctor. Then this would be 10 sessions (5 morning sessions and 5
afternoon sessions) with (3 + 3 + 3 + 2 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1)/10 =
19/10 = 1.9.
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