Caring for TB Patient at Elder Care Home : Case Study

Abstract

        The purpose of this research is to study how to arrange and manage things at the elder care home and how to develop a guideline for preventing the disease and taking care of the elders who get TB.  The data collection was done at 14 elder care homes where there are the most and second most number of elders in each region. The methods of this study are the observation of the buildings and areas within the elder care homes and activities provided for the elders and the interview of 28 persons including the administrators and staff.

          The results showed that there were no building to separate the elders who are infected with the respiratory diseases, especially tuberculosis from the healthy ones, and the officers there never attend a training course for taking care of the elders who get infected with specific diseases.  Although the elder care home offices follow the infection control measures according to the TB Prevention Guideline in Health Care Service by separating the TB infected elders from the others, some elders decided to build a separate shelter.  Therefore, apart from following the guideline, the elder care homes should also be aware of the feelings of the elders who are infected with the disease that is considered by other people in the society a disgusting disease.