El Callao (Peru), 06/04/2016, Sr. Luz Maribel Burgos Ugaz.- Sr. Maribel, coordinator of the Sanitary Prevention and control center for Tuberculosis of St. Joseph’s Hospital in El Callao, works with a multidisciplinary team integrated by a neurologist, a nurse, a psychiatrist, a social worker, a dietitian, a pharmacist and several technical nursing personnel. I am convinced that to preserve the health of those persons affected by TBC is a must. They have to be treated in a humanitary way. To learn from their experiences is for me a great richness, because these vulnerable persons often suffer also from social exclusion.
With patientsPlacing myself in the place of those patients I take care of, I wonder how do they feel with the misunderstanding of their surroundings. They must suffer even more socially and psychologically. My daily work has given me new ideas of how to deal with those patient in a due and compassionate manner. I assume different roles and functions:
1. The role of the head nurse of the Sanitary Prevention and Control of TBC center consists in offering integral attention to the patients in order to reduce the time of recovery and to promote healthy lifestyles in view of a reintegration into the social surroundings. By integral I mean: physic, mental, social and spiritual. All these aspects must be balanced if we want their health to last.
The nursing staff must know the social situation of the patient in order to understand, help, encourage and keep the patient in the program until the end of the treatment. This is a way to protect the life of the patient, the family and the whole community struggling against Tuberculosis.
Clear and precise information both objectively and personal is necessary in each case given the complexity of individual situations. Clear and timely decisions help to diminish the index of desertions, readmissions, absentees motivated by the lack of understanding of the purpose of the Institution.
In general the persons suffering from this illness are not accepted in their work, studies or environment. To have this illness implies and emotional burden as well: lack of protection, vulnerability, poor self-image. The patient needs the help of the nursing and professional staff, families and friends in order to live with the illness during the time needed for the treatment. He/she needs courage to assume the challenge.
2. Nursing attention to the person affected by TBC: As professional nurses we are part of a team, we are responsible for the whole person affected by the illness, the family and the community.
For thus we must:
Educate the children
- Organize the research of the cases affected by TBC.
- Offer counsel and advice to the patient before beginning the treatment.
- Organize the treatment.
- Seek acceptance of the treatment and continuity in receiving it.
- Coordinate the follow up of the treatment with the interdisciplinary team.
Hospital San Jose in Callao