Mycobacterium tuberculosis: implications for district nurses.
Despite the belief of many health professionals, tuberculosis is not a disease of the past but is on the increase (Department of Health (DH), 2004) and the UK has seen a year on year increase in the number of new cases (Health Protection Agency, 2008). The DH have made a number of recommendations to combat this increase and one of those recommendations is to raise awareness among health staff (2004). This review has set out to examine district nurses' knowledge about tuberculosis and the consequences of poor knowledge. Five themes emerged from the literature search with the most prominent being the subject of adherence and how this could be addressed. The review has identified that district nurses should have a greater knowledge of tuberculosis and patient treatment could be improved by the nurse having a better understanding about tuberculosis care.
James
Stephanie
S
Framework Housing Association. stephanie.james@frameworkha.org
Watson
Michael
M
D002983:Clinical Competence; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration; D023801:Directly Observed Therapy / Q000451:nursing; D004521:Educational Measurement; D006285:Health Planning; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D055118:Medication Adherence; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis; D024802:Nurse's Role; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D057184:Practice Patterns, Nurses'; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011637:Public Health Nursing / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration; D013222:State Medicine; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D006113:United Kingdom / Q000453:epidemiology