Quality control of the diagnosis of malaria in the province of Cienfuegos, Cuba
Ginorio Gavito, D.E.; Ortega Medina, S.; Rojas Rivero, L.áz.; Marín Castro, H.; Oviedo Delgado, A.
Revista Cubana de Medicina Tropical 56(1): 49-53
2004
ISSN/ISBN: 0375-0760 PMID: 15849909 Document Number: 575706
Data were collected by surveying all the technicians that worked at the different primary and secondary health care units. A quality control was carried out in the diagnosis of paludism in the 18 laboratories of the province of Cienfuegos. Various parameters were controlled. The method A considered 4 aspects to be evaluated: preparation of the material, sample taking, staining and microscopy. The method B consisted in an efficiency test by the observation of a set of laminae negative and positive to Plasmodium vivax and Plasmodium falciparum. In both cases, it was established a scoring scale. Besides, the physical conditions of the laboratory, the personnel permanence, as well as the time of experience in the diagnosis of paludism, were taken into account. The best results were obtained with the fixed personnel working in the paludism section. It was proved with a statistical significance level that the good category predominated for methods A and B after evaluating all the technicians. The study showed a better preparation of the personnel with less than 5 years of experience, which was related to the participation in the training course conducted at the provincial level by "Pedro Kouri" Tropical Medicine Institute 6 months before the investigation. Deficiencies were found in the conditions of the clinical and microbiology laboratories.