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

How to Investigate Adherence to Antiretroviral Treatment in Health Facilities: Adherence Indicators
Recruit Survey Coordinator, Team Leaders, and Data Collectors
The survey should have one overall coordinator to oversee all stages of the survey including
design, recruitment of team leaders and data collectors, training, data collection, data
processing, data analysis, report writing, and dissemination. During data collection, the
coordinator should be in constant touch by phone with all teams to resolve difficult issues and
to communicate changes to the other teams
The data collection method is designed in such a way that one facility can be surveyed in one
day by a team of four data collectors. Therefore each team needs one team leader and three or
four data collectors.
The decision as to how many teams are needed is a local decision. In the feasibility surveys,
we surveyed 20 facilities in a five-day week using four teams. This worked well but could be
adapted to local needs and resources. To ensure consistency in results, all data collectors
should be trained together, and then be allowed to practise together at one or two pilot sites.
The team leader needs to have the capacity to assess the record-keeping system and
efficiently decide how to sample for the retrospective records. They also need to know how to
communicate with the facility managers and manage the work of the team so that all people
are busy at all times. If the appearance of patients for interview slows down they should make
sure data collectors are concentrating on the retrospective records. It is the team leader’s job
to make sure everyone is busy and that there are no bottlenecks such as people not working
because more sampling and record extraction is needed.
The team leader and at least two other team members should be comfortable with using Excel
on computers.
Data collectors should be familiar with pharmaceutical terms to be able to reliably extract
information from records, and to record it accurately during observations. The most effective
data collectors are persons with clinical experience such as physicians, nurses, pharmacists,
paramedical staff, or senior medical or pharmacy students.
Data collection can be tedious, and requires an aptitude for concentration and attention to
detail. The best data collectors combine the discipline to collect data in a standardized way
with the flexibility to adapt procedures to the requirements of unusual situations. People who
have these traits but lack technical knowledge can be trained to perform effectively and will
improve with experience; people without them will never perform effectively, regardless of
their technical qualifications.
It is also helpful if at least two members of the team have the ability to enter data onto a
computer quickly and reliably.
Plan Data Collection Visits Schedule
As stated above, the team of three or four data collectors with a team leader can manage one
facility in one day and double-enter the data on the lap top (if available) the same day.
However, they need to arrive at the facility at or before opening time, so that they can begin
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