Accelerating international MS care through videoconference-based education and case consultation

Disparities exist in the international management of multiple sclerosis (MS). For example, when stratified by income, only high-income countries have a high rate of availability of all disease-modifying therapies (DMTs); as income decreases, the availability of DMTs declines rapidly, such that even upper-middle-income countries commonly only have access to first-line therapies but not the newer, potentially more potent agents, and low-income countries have no access to DMTs.1 As newer DMTs associated with greater risk of toxicity become more available, providers in those countries are playing catch-up to the international community in providing guideline-level MS care.2 This adds to the challenge already described by providers where advanced MS treatments are available: it is difficult to remain current on important domains related to DMT prescription, including selecting the correct DMT for a specific patient's characteristics, safety data, and monitoring guidelines, resulting in a call for targeted continuing medical education.3 Taken together, it is in the interest of the international MS community to have providers with more experience using these DMTs spread the knowledge they have gleaned to providers in countries where these same treatments are emerging. Our videoconference-based education and case consultation program can efficiently meet this need.

Source: Neurology - July 3, 2016 Category: Neurology Authors: Alschuler, K. N., Wundes, A., Dietrich, D. W., Boskovski, B., Kuzmanovski, I., Alexander, K. S., von Geldern, G., Stobbe, G. A. Tags: Multiple sclerosis, All Education, CME, Methods of education, Other Education GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES Source Type: research