St James’ Hospital recruits patients with TB for Video Direct Observational Therapy study to investigate smartphone versus community care, in an Irish research first

A Health Innovation Hub Ireland (HIHI) pilot study with St James’ Hospital will investigate the benefits of using technology against in person care in Tuberculosis (TB) medication adherence. In both the United Kingdom and the United States, the standard of care to ensure TB medication compliance is Video Direct Observational Therapy (VDOTS). The patient records a video ingesting medication remotely and submits securely via software to the TB nurse. Currently in Ireland, a community nurse physically visits a patient with TB medication adherence, watches each take their medication and records it manually on a hard copy – this is Direct Observational Therapy (DOT).

Currently, a public health nurse visits a patient’s home either once or twice a day, within the traditional DOT system for TB in use across Ireland depending on the treatment plan. By contrast, VDOTS uses a mobile smartphone application that allows patients to remotely record and send videos of every medication dose ingested. The nurse then views the date and time stamped videos on a secure web-based client management system (CMS) that is password protected. Once a patient’s videos are uploaded to the web portal, they are automatically deleted from the smartphone.