Abstract: Objective To understand the diagnosis and treatment condition of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patients registered at urban TB dispensaries, in order to provide policy recommendations for quality improvement of TB services.  Methods A total of 246 PTB patients registered in urban TB dispensaries of four prefectures were investigated by structured questionnaires.  Results The average interval from onset of the disease to first visit to doctor was 12 days. The major reason for patients’ delay was that patients did not care for the symptoms. 67.5% of TB patients experienced diagnosis delay. In terms of diagnosis delay, there were statistically significant differences between groups with different marital status and choices of health facilities in their first medical visits.   Conclusion We should conduct mass health education to improve TB awareness and reduce patient’s delay. In order to reduce the diagnosis delay, we should also encourage TB suspects to seek care at TB dispensaries, or general hospitals of district level and above, or special TB hospitals in their first medical visit after onset of disease.

Key words: tuberculosis,pulmonary, registries, community health sevices, Shandong province