[Survey on status of staff for Plasmodium microscopy examinations in Changzhou City].

Objective: To understand the current state of staff for Plasmodium microscopy examinations in Changzhou City in the early stage of eliminating malaria action, so as to provide the evidence for achieving the target of malaria elimination.

Methods: The staff for Plasmodium microscopy examinations from medical institutions and centers for disease control and prevention at different levels were investigated by questionnaires and tests of the malaria related theory and microscopic operation.

Results: Totally 95 people were investigated, and among them, 40.0% had college degree and 45.3% were university educated. There were 18.9% of them working on Plasmodium microscopy examinations for less than 1 year, 40.0% for 2-5 years, 18.9% for 6-10 years and 22.1% for more than 10 years. The numbers of person-time of provincial and municipal level training, district-level training, and unit-level training in the last year were 0.57, 0.59, and 0.14, respectively. Totally 18.9% of them had the experience of finding Plasmodium at work, and 97.9% of them considered it was necessary or very necessary to do Plasmodium microscopy examinations. However, 57.9% and 8.4% of them considered Plasmodium microscopy examinations increased their work load and work difficulty, respectively. The average correct rates of knowledge tests on malaria before and after training were 72.5% and 91.6% respectively (P < 0.05). The average mark of Plasmodium microscopic tests was 25.3 points (full mark being 50 points), and the passing rate (> or = 30 points) was 58.9%.

Conclusion: The working experience of staff for Plasmodium microscopy examinations in Changzhou City is relatively poor, and the related training should be enhanced.