If a non-health department person administers DOT, what type of confidentiality considerations are there?
DOT is usually given by TB clinic personnel such as a nurse or other health-care worker. Sometimes staff at other health-care settings, such as outpatient treatment centers, can be asked to give DOT to a patient who can get to the alternative health-care setting more easily than to the TB clinic. Likewise, with the patient’s permission, a person other than a health-care worker may be chosen to watch the patient take medicine. These arrangements must be approved in advance with input from the patient, as well as supervisory clinical and management staff, and should be monitored closely to ensure there are no problems. Regardless of the arrangement, it is always important to protect the patient’s confidentiality. Health-care workers should educate all non-health department staff involved in DOT on the importance of maintaining confidentiality.
