Conference Abstract | Volume 9, Abstract 070 (ConfProc7) | Published: 23 Jul 2026
Osman Abu1,&, Alfred Cudjoe1, Kamal Adams Dramani1, Jonas Oduro Appiah1, Emma Edinam Kploanyi3, Gifty Boateng4, Ebenezer Kofi Mensah2
1Upper East Regional Hospital, Bolgatanga, 2Sekondi Zonal Public Health Laboratory, Sekondi, Ghana, 3Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana, 4National Public Health and Reference Laboratory, Ghana Health Service, Accra, Ghana
&Corresponding author: Osman Abu, Upper East Regional Hospital, Bolgatanga, Ghana, Email: abuosman85@gmail.com
Received: 29 Aug 2025, Accepted: 28 Oct 2025, Published: 23 Jul 2026
Domain: Infectious Disease Epidemiology
Keywords: Tuberculosis, Upper East Regional Hospital, TB Request form, District TB Number
©Osman Abu et al. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health (ISSN: 2664-2824). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution International 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Cite this article: Osman Abu et al. Data quality assessment of tuberculosis request forms at Upper East Regional Hospital, Ghana, 2025. Journal of Interventional Epidemiology and Public Health. 2026;9(ConfProc7):070. https://doi.org/10.37432/JIEPH-CONFPRO7-0070
Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis is a challenge in most resource-limited countries. Some of these countries have adopted the sample referral system to bring TB diagnoses closer to their people and also to improve the turnaround time in TB management. Inaccuracies and incomplete TB request forms can delay diagnosis, misdirect samples and lead to poor patient outcomes. Assessing the completeness of these forms helps identify bottlenecks and enhances data quality in TB surveillance systems. We assessed the completeness of TB request forms to improve data quality and service delivery at the Upper East Regional Hospital.
A Cross-sectional retrospective review of TB request forms at the Upper East Regional Hospital Laboratory was conducted. All TB request forms submitted between January and June 2025 were analyzed. Percentage completeness calculated per form, per field and completeness were analyzed by facilities. Data was analyzed using Microsoft Excel and the results presented in tables and graphs.
Of the 685 TB request forms reviewed, 674 (98%) of them had at least one missing parameter. Fields that were commonly left blank were District TB Number, Presume TB Number, Residential Address, Test Requested and Patient Category, representing 88.3%, 46.6%, 23.6%, 19.7% and 9.9% respectively. On facility level completion, 20 out of 24 facilities (83.3%) showed 0% completion. The most common personnel factor affecting request form completion among spokes facilities is adherence to sample referral protocols, which recorded 85% noncompliance, compared to inadequate training and high workload, which recorded 35% and 55%, respectively.
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