A Jeyakumar, S Kalaiselvi, D Nair, R Vijayaprabha, K Gayathri, D Kabir, J M Melfha, T Bhatnagar, R Srinivasan, M Balusamy, S Shanmugasundaram, Alicia Catherine, N Nithya, R Venkateshwar, A Frederick, H D Shewade
The QI package improved documentation and timeliness of triage assessment, contributing to modest reductions in early TB deaths. District-level supervision and triaging at diagnosis for early admission will sustain the reduced death rate.
SETTING: Tamil Nadu Kasanoi Erappila Thittam (TN-KET) is a statewide differentiated tuberculosis (TB) care initiative to reduce TB deaths involving triaging for severe illness at diagnosis and referral of severely ill for appropriate inpatient care (2022-2025). Eleven out of 30 districts did not reduce their TB death rates despite achieving the target process indicators.
OBJECTIVE: To assess the implementation fidelity and effect of a quality improvement (QI) package to improve triage coverage and quality in the select 11 districts of Tamil Nadu.
DESIGN: A quasi-experimental pre-post study was conducted between October 2024 to February 2025 (pre-QI) and June to December 2025 (post-QI). The QI package was introduced in poorly performing districts. Data were extracted from Ni-kshay and TB SeWA (e-tools of the TB programme and TN-KET, respectively), supplemented by independent triage audits.
RESULTS: Integrating the QI package within TN-KET achieved high fidelity. The extent of missing triage data reduced from 38% to 12%, and median delays in entry of triage details reduced from 13 to 9 days and early TB deaths reduced from 3.7% to 3.3%.
CONCLUSION: The QI package improved documentation and timeliness of triage assessment, contributing to modest reductions in early TB deaths. District-level supervision and triaging at diagnosis for early admission will sustain the reduced death rate.