Abstract: Objective To evaluate the role and effect of strengthened intervention in referring and tracing of suspected TB patients reported by hospital. Methods The strengthened interventions such as standardizing the referring and tracing procedure were taken. Referred rate, referred-arrival rate and overall arrival rate were compared between the intervention year and the previous year. Results The referred rate, the referred-arrival rate, the tracing-arrival rate and the overall-arrival rate were 86.8%、41.3%、72.2% and 83.7% respectively in the intervention year, significantly higher than the level of the previous year(P<0.05). In the intervention year, 99 suspects didn’t go to TB dispensary after referral, among which 80 were not reported by local hospital, accounting for 80.8%. Working outside the local county and wrong telephone number and address are the main reasons for suspected not attending the TB dispensary for diagnosis. Conclusion Taking the comprehensive strengthened interventions and focusing on every step in suspects referring and tracing are essential in improving suspected patients’ arrival.

Key words: tuberculosis, pulmonary/prevention and control, patient transfer