Table 2.
Knowledge of the retail pharmacy staff about tuberculosis (TB) and correlation with the professional background and duration of working experience in the DI Khan city, Pakistan. Statistical significance is determined by using Fisher’s Exact test
| Professional background & Experience in years | Knowa n (%a) |
Do not knowa n (%) |
P-value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Exposure: Breathing air containing TB causing microorganisms | |||
| Pharmacists | 4 (100) | 0 (0) | 0.071 |
| Pharmacy assistants | 25 (93) | 2 (7) | |
| Sales person | 37 (73) | 14 (27) | |
| ≤ 5 years | 19 (56) | 15 (44) | 0.000 |
| 6–15 years | 29 (97) | 1 (3) | |
| > 15 years | 18 (100) | 0 (0) | |
| Transmission: Poor ventilation; overcrowding; presence of untreated TB patients in the house/community | |||
| Pharmacists | 4 (100) | 0 (0) | 0.451 |
| Pharmacy assistants | 22 (82) | 5 (19) | |
| Sales person | 36 (71) | 15 (29) | |
| ≤ 5 years | 20 (59) | 14 (41) | 0.008 |
| 6–15 years | 25 (83) | 5 (17) | |
| > 15 years | 17 (94) | 1 (6) | |
| Symptoms: Persistent cough; fever; sweat | |||
| Pharmacists | 4 (100) | 0 (0) | 0.000 |
| Pharmacy assistants | 15 (57) | 12 (44) | |
| Sales person | 9 (18) | 42 (82) | |
| ≤ 5 years | 5 (15) | 29 (85) | 0.001 |
| 6–15 years | 11 (37) | 19 (63) | |
| > 15 years | 12 (67) | 6 (33) | |
| Prevention: Covering mouth and nose when patient cough or sneeze; by curing TB patients | |||
| Pharmacists | 4 (100) | 0 (0) | 0.213 |
| Pharmacy assistants | 21 (78) | 6 (22) | |
| Sales person | 32 (63) | 19 (37) | |
| ≤ 5 years | 16 (47) | 18 (53) | 0.000 |
| 6–15 years | 23 (77) | 7 (23) | |
| > 15 years | 18 (100) | 0 (0) | |
| Diagnosis: Sputum smear microscopy | |||
| Pharmacists | 4 (100) | 0 (0) | 0.103 |
| Pharmacy assistants | 25 (93) | 2 (7) | |
| Sales person | 38 (75) | 13 (26) | |
| ≤ 5 years | 24 (76) | 10 (29) | 0.032 |
| 6–15 years | 25 (83) | 5 (17) | |
| > 15 years | 18 (100) | 0 (0) | |
| Consequences of improper treatment: Drug resistance, Disease deteriorates, Disease spread to others, Relapseb | |||
| Pharmacists | 4 (100) | 0 (0) | 0.002 |
| Pharmacy assistants | 12 (44) | 15 (56) | |
| Sales person | 11 (22) | 40 (78) | |
| ≤ 5 years | 5 (15) | 29 (85) | 0.001 |
| 6–15 years | 10 (33) | 20 (67) | |
| > 15 years | 12 (68) | 6 (33) | |
| MDR-TB: Improper treatment, failure to complete treatment, Presence of patients with MDR-TB in household/communityc | |||
| Pharmacists | 4 (100) | 0 (0) | 0.003 |
| Pharmacy assistants | 9 (33) | 18 (67) | |
| Sales person | 10 (20) | 41 (80) | |
| ≤ 5 years | 7 (21) | 27 (79) | 0.360 |
| 6–15 years | 9 (30) | 21 (70) | |
| > 15 years | 7 (39) | 11 (61) | |
| Duration of TB treatment: 6–9 months | |||
| Pharmacists | 4 (100) | 0 (0) | 1.00 |
| Pharmacy assistants | 26 (96) | 1 (4) | |
| Sales person | 48 (94) | 3 (6) | |
| ≤ 5 years | 31 (91) | 3 (9) | 0.535 |
| 6–15 years | 29 (97) | 1 (3) | |
| > 15 years | 18 (100) | 0 (0) | |
Decimal value ≥0.5 is rounded up to 1.0. a The respondents were grouped as knowing and not knowing if they could answer the questions mentioned by key words in table. b 3/4, c 2/3 answers were grouped as knowing. MDR-TB: Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis