Cough Monitors

When people ask me what I'm doing in Kenya, my one line answer for my main project is usually the following: I am implementing a cough monitor in the PMTCT clinic to screen HIV+ pregnant mothers for TB. I was under the impression that this was a clear way to describe what I am doing. Apparently, I was completely wrong. After about 4 weeks in Kenya, another student innocently admitted to me that she imagined a cough monitor to be a machine - a baby monitor type of device that could somehow listen for cough. She was not the only one because when I told this story to others I received more shocked looks and comments. "Wait so the cough monitor isn't a machine?" "It's a person???" "Oh I thought it was a robot!!"

So to clarify, a cough monitor is a trained PERSON who is assigned to a ward or a clinic. His/her sole purpose is to survey patients for TB risk and TB disease. The cough monitor asks each patient 6 questions that can help determine if the patient is at risk for having active pulmonary TB (cough, household contacts etc). Depending on the patient's answers, the cough monitor collects a sputum sample from the patient to test for TB disease. The sample is sent to the TB lab and results are back the same day. The best part? TB screening AND treatment are FREE!

Two of my favorite short termers and I really got a kick out of the cough monitor robot idea, and we spent some time discussing what this robot would do if a cough monitor was actually robotic. They made me this wonderful present before they left Kenya!!



















Meet Neil the Cough Monitor
Features:
1) Large diameter straw in right breast pocket for easy sputum collection
2) Sputum results back in seconds
3) Culture and drug sensitivity capabilities with siren and light warning for XDR cases
4) User friendly conveyer belt tongue depressor distributes appropriate medications immediately to patient (combo pill available for intensive phase treatment! Limited supply of MDR treatment included!)
5) Large left eye xray device takes a chest xray in minutes

**Deluxe addition with lumbar puncture feature coming soon! Don't let any TB cases get past your cough monitor!