A prática das equipes de saúde do sistema prisional sobre a detecção e acompanhamento dos casos de tuberculose

Abstract

Introduction: In the prison environment, infectious diseases, especially tuberculosis, remain asa problem of great impact and difficult to control, which favors sickness and unfavorable outcomes, for this reason, tuberculosis must be incorporated into the priority lines and comprise the organization of work of the teams in prisons, valuing aspects of integral care. Objective: To know the practice of the professionals of the prison health team about the process of detection and monitoring of tuberculosis cases. Methods: Exploratory descriptive study with a qualitative approach. The data collection used a semi-structured interview script, which allowed to explore the tuberculosis control actions carried out in the penitentiary units by the professionals of the teams. The collection occurred from July 2017 to January 2018 at the prison premises, and the interviews lasted an average of 10 minutes. The discourses wer e analyzed in the light of dialectical hermeneutics, the union of these two perspectives provided an understanding of the meanings of senses, enabling the interpretation of the socio-historical context of the work of the health team in the process of detection and follow-up of the patients with tuberculosis. Results: In the analysis of the speeches, there were fragilities in the practices of the professionals about the organization of activities to early diagnosis, accomplishment of joint activities between health and safety professionals and the strengthening of the prisoners regarding the identification of the symptoms and on the monitoring of the cases, the professionals presented understanding about the actions that incorporate the care of tuberculosis cases, however, the tuberculosis control routines areperformed with limitations and the arguments to justify the practice permeate from safety issues to high demand of attendance, and those contribute to the low effectiveness in the control and cure of the disease. Conclusion: The control of tuberculosis in prisons is a reflection of the actions taken by health teams, when the practice is incomplete or inadequate it contributes to the persistence of high prevalence rates of tuberculosis in prisons, thereby, in order to favor the conduct of strategies, it is important to considerissues related to incarcerationand not only the individual's condition.Alsoin order to expand the opportunities of control of the disease, it is necessary to encourage the health teams and other professionals of the prison to develop joint activities that can contribute to an effective control of the disease.