Improving paediatric tuberculosis and HIV clinical record keeping: The use of audit and a structured pro forma in a South African regional level hospital

We report on the impact of revisions made to an existing pro forma facilitating routine assessment and the management of paediatric HIV and tuberculosis (TB) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. An initial documentation audit in 2010 assessed 25 sets of case notes for the documentation of 16 select indicators based on national HIV and TB guidelines. Using the findings of this initial audit, the existing case note pro forma was revised. The introduction of the revised pro forma was accompanied by training and a similar repeat audit was undertaken in 2012. This demonstrated an overall improvement in documentation. The three indicators that improved most were documentation of maternal HIV status, child’s HIV status and child’s TB risk assessment (all P &lt; 0.001). This study suggests that tailor-made documentation pro formas may have an important role to play in improving record keeping in low-resource settings. </jats:p

Rapid Accurate Identification of Tuberculous Meningitis Among South African Children Using a Novel Clinical Decision Tool

Background: Early diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is crucial to achieve optimum outcomes. There is no effective rapid diagnostic test for use in children. We aimed to develop a clinical decision tool to facilitate the early diagnosis of childhood TBM. Methods: Retrospective case–control study was performed across 7 hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa (2010–2014). We identified the variables most predictive of microbiologically confirmed TBM in children (3 months to 15 years) by univariate analysis. These variables were modelled into a clinical decision tool and performance tested on an independent sample group. Results: Of 865 children with suspected TBM, 3% (25) were identified with microbiologically confirmed TBM. Clinical information was retrieved for 22 microbiologically confirmed cases of TBM and compared with 66 controls matched for age, ethnicity, sex and geographical origin. The 9 most predictive variables among the confirmed cases were used to develop a clinical decision tool (CHILD TB LP): altered Consciousness; caregiver HIV infected; Illness length >7 days; Lethargy; focal neurologic Deficit; failure to Thrive; Blood/serum sodium 10 Lymphocytes ×106/L; CSF Protein >0.65 g/L. This tool successfully classified an independent sample of 7 cases and 21 controls with a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 90%. Conclusions: The CHILD TB LP decision tool accurately classified microbiologically confirmed TBM. We propose that CHILD TB LP is prospectively evaluated as a novel rapid diagnostic tool for use in the initial evaluation of children with suspected neurologic infection presenting to hospitals in similar settings