Meanings and senses of being a health professional with tuberculosis: an interpretative phenomenological study.

This study verified that health professionals live the experience of tuberculosis similar to other people: with fear, anguish, frustration, prejudice and health needs not always met by the services and programmes for the control of the disease. The lived experience has an important impact on the health professionals' ways of understanding the kind of empathic and sensitive care that should be provided to people with tuberculosis. In addition, it is concluded that specific governmental strategies are needed for tuberculosis prevention, diagnosis and treatment among health professionals.