Rituals of care: Strategies adopted by HIV testers to avoid misdiagnosis in rapid HIV testing in Zimbabwe

Figures & data

Figure 1. HIV testing algorithm used in routine healthcare services in Zimbabwe in 2017 and during our study in 2018–2019.

Table 1. Thematic network of emerging findings.

Organising themes: Careful work to overcome misdiagnosis	Basic themes
Ritualisation of careful procedure	Careful recording Focus on work Follow SOPs
Strategies for coping with resource limitations and high workloads	Cross-check with colleagues Working in teams Managing stock-outs
Embodied knowledge	Discordant couples Discordant results Index testing ‘Difficult’ clients Visibly sick clients/ward referrals
Testers’ thoughts on quality assurance procedures	Quality control Surveillance Supervision

Data availability statement

Data cannot be shared publicly because of ethical restrictions. These restrictions are in place because the qualitative data contain potentially identifying or sensitive information, and because we do not have consent from the participants to share their transcripts with the wider public. Under these conditions, the Medical Research Council of Zimbabwe have imposed restrictions on the public sharing of data. Data is however available from the Biomedical Research and Training Institute (contact via http://www.manicalandhivproject.org/manicaland-data) for researchers who meet the criteria for access to confidential data.