Enhancing management of tuberculosis treatment with video directly observed therapy in New York City

• DOI: 10.5588/ijtld.15.0738
• Publication Date: 2016-04-14T02:58:26Z
• Authors: C. Chuck; E. Robinson; M. Macaraig; M. Alexander; J. Burzynski
• Keywords: Directly Observed Therapy

Directly observed therapy (DOT), the standard of care for monitoring patients on treatment tuberculosis (TB), requires substantial health department resources, and can be inconvenient disruptive patients.To determine whether video technology remote observation anti-tuberculosis (VDOT) is as effective in-person DOT.Eligible TB in New York City were prospectively enrolled VDOT from September 2013 to 2014. We compared outcomes worker output DOT.Among 390 DOT TB, 61 (16%) 329 (84%) DOT. Adherence scheduled sessions was 95% (3292/3455) 91% (32 204/35 442) with (>P < 0.01). enabled a observe maximum 25 per day, similar workers who clinic (n = 25), but twice that community 12). Treatment completion (96% vs. 97%, P 0.63). The primary problems encountered during interruption audio connectivity.Implementation resulted successful while maximizing resources.