What are the main goals of the PI-TB Assembly, and how do they support clinicians working in pulmonary infections and tuberculosis?
The Assembly of Pulmonary Infections and Tuberculosis (PI-TB) with the American Thoracic Society focuses on all aspects of pulmonary infections and host defences. Our Assembly goals are to promote education of clinicians managing patients with pulmonary infections, develop clinical practice guidelines, and support basic and clinical research within the areas of pulmonary infections, Cystic Fibrosis (CF), Non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (NCFB), Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) and Tuberculosis (TB).
However, our main goal is to bring together clinicians, scientists, and public health practitioners to promote discussions and collaborations. During the yearly American Thoracic Society Conference in May, the Assembly supports many scientific and clinical sessions on pulmonary infections and TB topics, such as Advancing host-directed therapies in Pulmonary Infections, Tuberculosis: Still kicking, still hiding – science, spread and what we are doing about it, NTM, Bronchiectasis and the quest to understand: A story of Lungs and Love, and Novel management strategies in Bronchiectasis.
How do you hope the PINE Webinars and other online initiatives will benefit healthcare professionals in this field?
The Pulmonary Infection Network of Experts (PINE) webinar is a free, monthly online seminar on a range of topics within pulmonary infections and Tuberculosis. The webinars are unique since they are led by clinicians for clinicians and involve the presentation of an interesting clinical vignette.
Two expert commentators discuss the case management in a ‘how do I do it’ style, while also reviewing relevant published literature and providing the audience with the newest developments in diagnosis and management.
Our webinars are interactive, and often we have discussions about how different clinicians manage a specific clinical question. These discussions are not only educational but also provide opportunities for connecting with other specialists in the United States and worldwide. Similarly, we also have a Journal Club-style webinar to discuss and critique recently published landmark clinical trials and guidelines. The goal of this webinar is to make the attendees aware of study biases, study methods, limitations and how to apply the conclusions in clinical practice.
We are very excited for the next PINE webinar scheduled in July, which is going to focus on the new ATS/CDC/ERS/IDSA Tuberculosis treatment guidelines published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. You can find more information on our website, or on our ATS-PITB Twitter, LinkedIn or BlueSky.
What key topics or challenges do you want to highlight through these seminars?
While our webinars often highlight unique and interesting cases from patients with atypical presentations of pulmonary infections, most of our cases are "bread and butter" cases of Tuberculosis (TB), post-TB lung disease, HIV-related pulmonary diseases, fungal and bacterial infections, CF and NTM infections that clinicians see in their day-to-day practice. During our seminars, we want to highlight everyday challenges that a clinician might face, new developments in the field and how experts approach them in their daily practice.
How can clinicians make the most of these sessions to improve their knowledge and practice?
Ask questions! Our best webinars have been with active audience members sharing their clinical challenges and their experiences.
What impact do you hope this initiative will have on the future of respiratory and TB care?
We hope our webinar will connect clinicians and other healthcare practitioners as well as researchers in the field of pulmonary infections and tuberculosis, to promote new collaborations and sharing of experiences and knowledge. With over half the membership of the PI-TB Assembly outside of North America, this would be an important step to improve standards of care for patients all over the world.