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Usability of a Medication Event Reminder Monitor System (MERM) by Providers and Patients to Improve Adherence in the Management of Tuberculosis
Poor initiation and implementation and premature discontinuation of anti-tuberculous therapy, all forms of nonadherence, are major reasons for treatment failure, the development of drug-resistant tuberculosis, and transmission to other non-infected individuals. Directly Observed Therapy (DOT) has be...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2017
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5664616/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28946683 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph14101115 |
Sumario: | Poor initiation and implementation and premature discontinuation of anti-tuberculous therapy, all forms of nonadherence, are major reasons for treatment failure, the development of drug-resistant tuberculosis, and transmission to other non-infected individuals. Directly Observed Therapy (DOT) has been the worldwide standard, but implementation of DOT is burdensome for providers and patients, especially in resource-limited settings, where most of the burden of active TB is located. Among the alternatives to DOT is electronic monitoring (EM) of drug dosing histories. Here we report a usability study of a newly-designed, modular electronic monitor product, called the MERM (Medication Event and Reminder Monitor), that is compatible with TB medication formats and supply chains in resource-limited settings. This study, done in a rural setting in China, showed that the use of the MERM for EM of TB medications was associated with a high degree of user performance, acceptability, and satisfaction among both TB patients and medical staff. Based on these data, EM is becoming the standard of care for drug-susceptible TB patients in China and scaled implementations in several other countries with high TB burden have begun. In addition, the MERM is being used in MDR-TB patients and in clinical trials involving patients with TB/HIV and latent TB. |
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