Knowledge, attitude and practices of Rapid Diagnostic Tests (RDTs) among medical laboratory professionals in some health facilities in Niger, Benue, Nasarawa States and Federal Capital Territory

Abstract

The knowledge and attitudes and practices of RDT among medical laboratory professionals was investigated using structured questionnaire. Medical laboratory practitioners were the target-respondents. 175(80%) of the respondents are medical laboratory scientists, and 9(4%) were medical laboratory assistants while 35(16%) were medical laboratory technicians. Most respondents (67%) were from government hospitals. CareStart followed by SD Bioline were the most frequently used in government health facilities owing to their being distributed freely by NGOs. All (100%) of the medical laboratory professionals who responded were aware of RDT use while 151(69%) trust the results of RDTs adjudging the results to be closely related to that of microscopy and 174(79.5%) see it as yielding faster results. Keywords: RDTs; medical laboratory professionals; diagnosis.