OBJECTIVES
The main objective of this study was to implement an online pediatric case‐based POCUS course in low‐resource medical settings and examine learning outcomes and feasibility.
METHODS
This was a multicenter prospective cohort study conducted in a convenience sample of clinicians affiliated with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) training sites. MSF POCUS trainers provided the standard hands‐on, on‐site POCUS training and supplemented this with access to a web‐based course. Participants provided diagnoses for 400 image‐based POCUS cases from four common pediatric POCUS applications until they achieved the mastery learning standard of 90% accuracy, sensitivity (cases with pathology), and specificity (cases without pathology). Each participant also completed a course evaluation.
RESULTS
From 10 MSF sites, 110 clinicians completed 82,206 cases. There were significant learning gains across the POCUS applications with respect to accuracy (delta 14.2%; 95% CI 13.1, 15.2), sensitivity (delta 13.2%; 95% CI 12.1, 14.2), and specificity (delta 13.8%; 95% CI 12.7, 15.0). Furthermore, 90 (81.8%) achieved the mastery learning standard in at least one application, and 69 (62.7%) completed a course evaluation on at least one application for a total of 231 evaluations. Of these, 206 (89.2%) agreed/strongly agreed that the experience had relevance to their practice, met expectations, and had a positive user design. However, 59/110 (53.6%) clinicians reported a lack of protected time, and 54/110 (49.0%) identified challenges with accessing internet/hardware.
CONCLUSIONS
In resource‐limited MSF settings, implementing web‐based POCUS case practice demonstrated successful learning outcomes despite approximately half of the participants encountering significant technical challenges.
Treatment outcomes for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis remain poor. We aimed to estimate the association of treatment success and death with the use of individual drugs, and the optimal number and duration of treatment with those drugs in patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.
METHODS
In this individual patient data meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library to identify potentially eligible observational and experimental studies published between Jan 1, 2009, and April 30, 2016. We also searched reference lists from all systematic reviews of treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis published since 2009. To be eligible, studies had to report original results, with end of treatment outcomes (treatment completion [success], failure, or relapse) in cohorts of at least 25 adults (aged >18 years). We used anonymised individual patient data from eligible studies, provided by study investigators, regarding clinical characteristics, treatment, and outcomes. Using propensity score-matched generalised mixed effects logistic, or linear regression, we calculated adjusted odds ratios and adjusted risk differences for success or death during treatment, for specific drugs currently used to treat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, as well as the number of drugs used and treatment duration.
FINDINGS
Of 12 030 patients from 25 countries in 50 studies, 7346 (61%) had treatment success, 1017 (8%) had failure or relapse, and 1729 (14%) died. Compared with failure or relapse, treatment success was positively associated with the use of linezolid (adjusted risk difference 0·15, 95% CI 0·11 to 0·18), levofloxacin (0·15, 0·13 to 0·18), carbapenems (0·14, 0·06 to 0·21), moxifloxacin (0·11, 0·08 to 0·14), bedaquiline (0·10, 0·05 to 0·14), and clofazimine (0·06, 0·01 to 0·10). There was a significant association between reduced mortality and use of linezolid (-0·20, -0·23 to -0·16), levofloxacin (-0·06, -0·09 to -0·04), moxifloxacin (-0·07, -0·10 to -0·04), or bedaquiline (-0·14, -0·19 to -0·10). Compared with regimens without any injectable drug, amikacin provided modest benefits, but kanamycin and capreomycin were associated with worse outcomes. The remaining drugs were associated with slight or no improvements in outcomes. Treatment outcomes were significantly worse for most drugs if they were used despite in-vitro resistance. The optimal number of effective drugs seemed to be five in the initial phase, and four in the continuation phase. In these adjusted analyses, heterogeneity, based on a simulated I2 method, was high for approximately half the estimates for specific drugs, although relatively low for number of drugs and durations analyses.
INTERPRETATION
Although inferences are limited by the observational nature of these data, treatment outcomes were significantly better with use of linezolid, later generation fluoroquinolones, bedaquiline, clofazimine, and carbapenems for treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. These findings emphasise the need for trials to ascertain the optimal combination and duration of these drugs for treatment of this condition.