Evaluation of miLINC to shorten time to treatment for rifampicin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
Int J Tuberc Lung Dis
; 23(9): 980-988, 2019 09 01.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-31615604
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Achieving the 90-90-90 targets for tuberculosis (TB) will require interventions that enhance diagnosis, linkage, treatment and adherence to care. As a first step in the process, our team designed a suite of smartphone applications known as miLINC to improve time from diagnosis to treatment initiation in drug-resistant TB patients.SETTING:
Three clinical locations in a large, peri-urban district in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.OBJECTIVE:
To assess the acceptability, feasibility and impact of the miLINC mobile health applications as a solution to reducing the time from presentation to treatment initiation of rifampicin-resistant (RR) TB patients.METHODS:
We used a prospective, observational quality improvement evaluation of miLINC's impact among newly diagnosed patients with RR-TB.RESULTS:
A convenience sample comprising details of 6341 patients with presumptive TB were entered into miLINC. Of the 631 TB-positive sputum specimens, 41 (6.5%) were found to be RR-TB. The mean time from clinical presentation to RR-TB treatment initiation was 3 days, 21 h, 17 min.CONCLUSION:
This is the first study to suggest that the time from presentation to diagnosis and to treatment initiation for patients with RR-TB can be significantly improved using an integrated approach combining technology with appropriate human resources.
Texto completo:
1
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Tuberculose Resistente a Múltiplos Medicamentos
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Aplicativos Móveis
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Smartphone
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Antituberculosos
Tipo de estudo:
Clinical_trials
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Diagnostic_studies
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Observational_studies
Limite:
Adolescent
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Adult
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Aged
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Aged80
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Child
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Child, preschool
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Female
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Humans
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Infant
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Male
País como assunto:
Africa
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2019
Tipo de documento:
Article