Functional defict and sensitive outcomes to nursing care for elderly: Systematic literature review.

ABSTRACT Objective of this study was to determine sensitive outcomes to nursing care in relation to the functional deficit of people aged 65 and older. It is a Systematic Literature Review with qualitative synthesis and meta-analysis. From the qualitative synthesis, it was found that sensitive outcomes to nursing care, observed from structured intervention, were described as improvement of: functional status, self-care, symptom control, safety/adverse events, customer satisfaction, psychological support, decreased healthcare costs, therapeutic system management and quality of life. In meta-analysis we found that there is an improvement of effect on the level of sensitive outcomes to the nursing care between the experimental and control groups. It is noticed that it is necessary to rouse more guided study in clinical practice, to understand the importance of interventions sensitive to nursing care and health outcomes.

Length of Stay in Intensive Care Units - A Case Base Evaluation

As a matter of fact, an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) stands for a hospital facility where patients require close observation and monitoring. Indeed, predicting Length-of-Stay (LoS) at ICUs is essential not only to provide them with improved Quality-of-Care, but also to help the hospital management to cope with hospital resources. Therefore, in this work one`s aim is to present an Artificial Intelligence based Decision Support System to assist on the prediction of LoS at ICUs, which will be centered on a formal framework based on a Logic Programming acquaintance for knowledge representation and reasoning, complemented with a Case Based approach to computing, and able to handle unknown, incomplete, or even contradictory data, information or knowledge.

Social Representations of Violence against the Elderly

The repercussions of violence on the mental, social, and physical well-being of the elderly are some of the most challenging problems in public health today. Using a qualitative design, we conducted a study in Portugal and the United States that applied both descriptive and comparative methods in order to understand the social representations of violence against the elderly. Utilizing the Theory of Social Representations, we explored the perspectives of the elderly, their families, and healthcare professionals on the subject of violence against the elderly. The data on which the findings were based were obtained in two very different cultural contexts, yet the representations of violence against the elderly revealed no significant cross-cultural differences. However, conceptualizations regarding expectations of care and protection for the elderly proved to be distinct. We discussed concerns about the general attitudes of tolerance toward violence, including those of the elderly who self-identified as eventual victims. Violence against the elderly was portrayed as a part of old age and also somehow was justified by it. The results also indicated the need to better prepare healthcare professionals and society in general to deal with the consequences of the problem and not, as we would like to report, to prevent it from happening.

Self-care in Patients with Heart Failure

Objectives: To adapt for the Portuguese language the Self-Care of Heart Failure Index V6.2, analyse the self-care in maintenance, management skills and self-confidence of patients with heart failure who attend the nursing consultation of two Hospitals. Method: Explo- ratory study, sample 110 patients who frequented the nursing consultation for patients with heart failure of two Portuguese hospitals, conducted in the period of 6 months. He appea- led to the descriptive statistics and psychometric tests. Results: Internal consistency similar to the original scale. Mostly elderly, low literacy patients in self-care, low values associated with physical activity to the control of salt in meals taken away from home and inadequate control of signs and symptoms. Conclusion: Patients’ present difficulties in maintenance and management of the disease are self-confident face anyway. This instrument allows for individualized assessment leading to decision-making and action adjusted.

Self-care in older people with functional deficit: needs of long-term care.

The group of 65-year-olds is becoming more numerous and with greater needs for health care. So, is necessary the reflection about new models of provision, organization, and allocation of health resources. According to the United Nations Organization, 2015, in 2050 elderly people will reach two million people (20% of the world’s population), what mean that the number of people over 60 years old will exceed a population of young people under 15 years. Parallel to aging, less healthy lifestyles have contributed to the prevalence of chronic diseases, especially cerebrovascular diseases. Hypertension and diabetes mellitus are risk factors and increase predisposition to other diseases. With aging, there is an increased risk for developing chronic, oncological and degenerative diseases, which account for more than 50% of the burden of diseases, with profound implications on independency, use of health care and services.