directly observed therapy
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directly observed therapy (DOT),
visual monitoring by a health care worker of patients' ingestion of medications, to ensure compliance in difficult or long-term regimens, such as in oral treatment for tuberculosis; a contentious aspect of some WHO programs.
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directly observed therapy
Therapeutics A strategy for ensuring Pt compliance with therapy, where a health care worker or designee watches the Pt swallow each dose of prescribed drugs. See Patient compliance. Cf Directed observation.McGraw-Hill Concise Dictionary of Modern Medicine. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
directly observed therapy
,DOT
Oral administration of a drug or of drugs to a patient under supervision to ensure the drug is swallowed. DOT is esp. important in treating patients with infectious diseases (e.g., HIV/AIDS or tuberculosis) in which development of drug-resistant microorganisms is likely to threaten public health if the drug is not taken exactly as prescribed.
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