Table 1 Perceived Importance of Factors Affecting Testing or Diagnosis
From: Evaluation of under-testing and under-diagnosis of tick-borne encephalitis in Germany
Criteria | How can it impact the diagnostic process? | Perceived impact |
|---|---|---|
Clinical presentations | The decision to run some specific tests is always driven by the clinical symptoms | 1 |
Patients medical, geographic, or past activities history | Physicians mentioned that travel activity or being outdoors has some influence | 2 |
Previous laboratory tests | Most relevant tests are carried out within the clinic. They usually do not re-do a test ordered by another department, except if there is a good reason | 3 |
Time of a year (seasonality) | The seasons in and of themselves have no influence on the test. However, some doctors are more sensitive to TBE; all doctors tend to think of TBE in the warmer seasons when arthropods, such as ticks, are more active, and people are outdoors more often | 4 |
Availability of a test | Availability only plays a minor role, as physicians always have access to an external laboratory, if necessary | 4 |
Costs of tests | Cost also plays a minor role; tests are usually reimbursed. A few mentioned that they do not always order a PCR test because of the cost | 4 |
How soon to receive the result? | Physicians receive most of the test results within 1 day. However, ELISA tests can take up to 4 days | 4 |
Reliability (sensitivity and specificity) of a test | This is not a concern | 5 |
Convenience or access of a test | This is not a concern | 5 |