[Problems in model-beds for tuberculosis patients].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the possibility and obstacles to care tuberculosis patients in general hospitals.


OBJECTIVE
Sending questionnaire to the general and psychiatric hospitals running the model-beds for tuberculosis patients care, which have been the project proposed by Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, and analyzing their answers.


RESULTS
Answer sheets were recovered from 43 of 75 (57%) hospitals which were the objects of this investigation. Situations of running the model-beds were highly diverse. 74% of the hospitals assumed that the general hospitals (if some conditions were satisfied) could care most of the tuberculosis patients. Problems in running the model-beds pointed by the hospitals were; HIC (hospital infection control) procedures pressing extra-workload (37%), low occupancy rate of the model-beds (30%), high cost of equipments for HIC (28%), high workload and high cost for tuberculosis patients care (21%), low fee for tuberculosis care (16%), difficulties of caring psychologically and/or physically unstable tuberculosis patients in rooms separate from the nurse station (16%), difficulties in long-term in-hospital care due to lack of sufficient amenities (14%), difficulties in accepting tuberculosis patients with short notice (12%), heavy burden for nurses who have to care for patients with associated conditions unfamiliar to them (12%), difficulties in maintaining quality of tuberculosis care (7%), risk of infection to the staffs and other patients (5%) and others miscellaneous problems (16%).


CONCLUSIONS
Needs for tuberculosis patients' care in general hospitals are expected to further increase in the near future, but to cope with the above situation many problems are still to be solved. Hereafter we must expand the project of model-beds for tuberculosis care, and accumulate more experiences in tuberculosis patients' care in general hospitals.
Ito
Kunihiko
K
Research Institute of Tuberculosis, Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association, Tokoyo, Japan. ito@jata.or.jp
Yoshiyama
Takashi
T
Kato
Seiya
S
Ishikawa
Nobukatsu
N
D006769:Hospitals, General / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control; D005791:Patient Care / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010362:Patients' Rooms / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014376:Tuberculosis