Search

Background: Tuberculosis is a chronic infectious disease caused by acid-fast mycobacteria from the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex group. The disease spreads when people with pulmonary tuberculosis excrete bacteria when they cough, sneeze, laugh or speak. Prisons are often called reservoirs of patients with tuberculosis, posing a great threat to their staff. Longer working hours in prison and penitentiary facilities aid latent contamination among the prison staff. So far, there have been few works discussing latent tuberculosis infection issues among the prisoners and prison staff., Material and Methods: A total of 84 employees of penitentiary facilities located in the Lublin Voivodship were examined using the QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) test which was approved for use in 2005 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as an aid in the diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis . The material for the research included blood samples collected using the QFT-GIT., Results: Positive test results of latent tuberculosis infections were found in 16.6% of officers. The highest percentage with positive results of tuberculosis infections was found among the surveyed single women aged 36-57, working in penitentiary facilities. There have been no statistically significant differences between the position of officers and the risk factors increasing the chance of the latent tuberculosis infection. Work experience and contact with inmates were found to have an impact on tuberculosis infection., Conclusions: The obtained results partially confirm other authors' observations concerning the influence of the risk factors of latent tuberculosis infections in prisons. Work experience and contact with inmates have an impact on tuberculosis infections among the prison staff in the Lublin Voivodeship. Med Pr. 2021;72(4):415-22., (This work is available in Open Access model and licensed under a CC BY-NC 3.0 PL license.)

The ongoing crisis in long-term care has forced administrators and chief executive officers (CEOs) to reassess their position within the U.S. healthcare system and define their response to the challenges they face. This article identifies the issues that Catholic long-term care CEOs find most pressing based on two recent opinion surveys conducted by the Catholic Health Association (CHA). In the area of management and governance, the subject of a 1990 CHA survey, respondents rated as their top concern the inadequacy of funds to treat chronically ill elderly persons. Other important issues included threats to the tax-exempt status of healthcare providers, availability of healthcare for the poor, and scarcity of nursing staff. Respondents to a 1991 survey that focused on collaboration within the Catholic healthcare ministry cited the lack of a forum for communications as the greatest hindrance to collaborative enterprises. A lack of available time to pursue and develop collaborative projects and the absence of compelling reasons to collaborate with other Catholic organizations were also identified as important issues. Overall, the consensus among long-term care CEOs was strong on the importance of certain management and governance issues and on the need for Catholic organizations to work together more closely.