TRACKING TREATMENT NON-COMPLIANT TUBERCULOSIS PATIENTS
The purpose of this research was to develop a method for the tracking of treatment non-compliant tuberculosis patients. The literature revealed that a number of factors are associated with a susceptibility to treatment non-compliance, and that only directly observable therapy and community involvement lead to improved treatment compliance among susceptible individuals. A procedure to track tuberculosis patients characterized any one of four specific factors for the provision of directly observable therapy was developed and is recommended for implementation. Individuals who will be tracked are those who are characterized by one or more of the following factors: homelessness, substance abuse, low-income, or intolerance of treatment-drugs. These individuals will be tracked to assure compliance with directly observable scheduled treatments for tuberculosis.
The purpose of this research is to develop a method for the tracking of treatment non-compliant tuberculosis patients. A number of factors cause the development of an effective tracking method to be important. Following a steady and relatively rapid decline in the number of new cases of tuberculosis reported each year in the United States, the number of new cases reported began a slower but steady increase in 1985 (Conspicuous consumption, 1993, p. 6). Growth in new cases of tuberculosis is particularly strong in the poorer sections of the nation's larger cities (Landesman, 1993, pp. 766-768). In New York City alone, an estimated 600,000 to one-million persons are infected with tuberculosis (Goldsmith, 1993, pp. 187-189). Tuberculosis is also a significant risk for HIV-infected (human immuno virus) persons (Landesman, 1993, pp. 766-768). Approximately 40 percent of those persons infected with tuberculosis in New York City are also infected with HIV (Goldsmith, 1993, pp. 187-189).
Whi...