Addressing Tuberculosis Threat in Toronto's Vulnerable Populations

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Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Infectious Disease – The Never-ending Threat). It is acquired by inhalation and is spreadable. The City of Toronto in accordance with Toronto Public Health have in place different specialty teams in regards to Tuberculosis (TB) who work together to provide support for individuals with TB as well as their families and to help prevent the spread of TB in Toronto (City of Toronto). Specifically, Toronto Public Health has a designated homeless and corrections team who manage TB disease and infection within the homeless/under-housed and corrections populations. Within this program, they use many environmental guidelines to access and diminish in the …show more content…

According to Nightingale, external influences and conditions can prevent, suppress, or contribute to disease or death. Her first theory in her journal titled “Notes on Nursing: What It Is and What It Is Not” is ventilation and warming in which Nightingale states “ to keep the air he breathes as pure as the external air, without chilling him” (Nightingale, 2005). Toronto Public Health, in accordance with The City of Toronto’s TB program developed guidelines to reduce TB transmission in homeless shelters and drop- in centers using environmental controls (Environmental Control Best Practices, 2007), the basis of Nightingales theories. In this document they discuss that environmental control measures act to dilute infectious particles by mixing fresh air into a space and one can interrupt TB transmission by introducing fresh outside air to replace room air (Environmental Control Best Practices, 2007). Additionally, it discusses ventilation, in terms of natural ventilation, which refers to fresh dilution air that enters and leaves a building through openings such as windows, when weather permits (Environmental Control Best Practices, 2007). Nightingale stressed the importance of always having proper ventilation, as she believed that the air an individual breathes could be a source of disease …show more content…

Toronto Public Health encourages everyone to cover their coughs and sneezes and make disposable tissues available for this purpose (City of Toronto). As well, they stress how important hand hygiene is after having coughed or sneezed. One of the most important concepts of Nightingales theories is that of cleanliness. She believed that “Every nurse ought to be careful to wash her hands very frequently during the day. If her face too, so much the better” (Nightingale, 2005). As well, nightingale emphasized the linkage between ventilation and cleanliness when she stated, “without cleanliness, you cannot have all the effect of ventilation; without ventilation, you can have no thorough cleanliness” (Nightingale, 2005). Toronto Public Health incorporates those theories in correlation with each other as well. They state that “environmental control measures are insufficient when used alone; they need to act in concert with administrative practices (having a person were a mask, hand washing etc.), to reduce the risk of TB transmission (Environmental Control Best Practices,

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