Bioética e odontologia: um perfil dos problemas éticos vividos por cirurgiões-dentistas

Bioethics studies human behavior in the fields ofbiological sciences and health care. Tt strives for humanization in health services along with promoting the rights of patients. In view of the lack of dental research dealing with this topic, the present study was undertaken to identify, from the viewpoint of dental surgeons, ethical problems experienced in dental practice,understand how they occur and how professionals deal with them. It is a descriptive exploratory investigation within a qualitative approach. Empirical material was collected through semi-structured interviews performed with 15 dental surgeons who work both in private and public practice in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil. The content of the interviews was systemized and organized, resulting in the identification of topics, from which were grouped the ethical problems reported by the participants. The resu1ts indicate that many of the ethical problems coincide with infringements of the norms and mIes of the Dental Code of Ethics, confirming a dental ethic acquired during professional formation and therefore, inadequate for solving the problems that emerge in professional practice. Other questions stand out such as low salaries, competition and poor working conditions. Associated to these problems are lack of commitment and professional responsibility with the patients. Concem with maintaining user autonomy, guaranteeing access to specialized services, and the need for performing only procedures for which they are technically qualified arise in the responses, leading to difficulties in consolidating the principIes proclaimed by bioethics: autonomy, justice, nonmaleficence and beneficence. We concluded that the ethical problems identified in professional practice need to be understood beyond the dental dimension, towards a human approach. It is therefore necessary to incorporate health care management technologies into health practices, including dentistry, which implies recognizing the difTerent dimensions that surround individuaIs, that is, social, economic, political and cultural

Medida da preditividade de instrumentos psicológicos nas avaliações psicológicas de condutores

The object of this study was to identify the possibility of predicting the involvement in traffic infractions from the results of the psychological tests carried out by psychologists specialized in the process of driver licensing in the state of Rio Grande do Norte (RN). The proposal consisted in identifying the penalty points recorded in national driving licenses (CNH) and identifying the corresponding tests and scores obtained, verifying if the average scores in the tests of drivers with and without an infraction record were significantly different and if there is any relation between the test scores and the frequency of the infractions. The results of the psychological instruments were collected in two moments the first being in the act of acquisition of the CNH and the second being during license renewal at the only certified clinic and at the DETRAN-RN. A population of 839 drivers of 14 municipalities were identified. 127 protocols of psychological tests were identified in the records of the DETRAN-RN (2002) and 76 at the clinic (2007), pointing out failures in the process of safekeeping of the psychological material, as well as in its retrieval from the record files. The sample was thus reduced to 68 drivers, all male, with age range between 18 and 41 years old, mean of 21,72 years old (DP = 5,24). 54 drivers were identified without a record of infraction, and 14 with a record. The latter committed 29 infractions. The penalty points recorded in their CNH ranged from 0 to 35 and the typical value of points (median) was zero. In the group with a record of infractions the number of points ranged between 3 and 35, mean of 10,79 (DP = 7,73). Differences were observed in the composition of the battery of tests in the two moments with the same subjects. The use of different tests to assess the same construct of the subject, first and second moment of assessment, did not allow for some analyzes with more efficient statistical proof. It was pointed out that five tests were not carried out and 118 were not corrected/analyzed. Significant differences between the groups were not identified with the psychological instruments used. In another attempt to establish differences between the means, the application of the independent t-Test evidenced a significant difference in the scores of the instruments of concentrated attention in 2002 (t = 2,21, gl = 25, p = 0.037) and of diffuse attention in 2002 (t = 2,37, gl = 24, p = 0.026). The results also did not evidence significant correlation between the scores of the tests and the penalty points of the infractions. Based on this study, it cannot be concluded with precision that the high or low scores are good criteria to determine that a driver will commit more or less traffic infractions, nor that the drivers with higher scores in the tests commit less infractions and vice-versa. Furthermore, the problems to find the instruments and the most basic data require a stronger monitoring on the part of the certified clinic and of the DETRAN-RN.

Saúde do trabalhador: entre os dispositivos legais e as práticas efetivas

The health worker is seized in this research beyond the mere applicability of legal devices concerning the legislation of Labor, in order to be established correlations with activities alluding to the public power in the ambit of State of Rio Grande do Norte (RN). This dissertation is an cutting of analysis circumscribed in the research, "Accidents at work: law, citizenship and justice," of the Grupo de Estudos Seguridade Social e Trabalho (GESTO) of Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN). The overall goal turned to apprehend and relate contradictory elements inherent compliance of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) in the supermarket which showed the highest occurrence of legal violations recognized by the Labor Justice of RN in the period between 2006 and 2008 . The specific objectives turned to identify, from the condemnatory sentences, violations inherent in the protective direction of the OH & S legislation; analyze the relationship of health damages to workers at the supposed recognition of rights claimed in condemnatory sentences and correlate violations inherent in the legislation OSH impacts on the health of workers, from data contained in expert reports. The justification for perform the research backed up, among other factors, in the fact that class of activity has been presented as the most recurrent in condemnatory sentences, since it chose to focus the analysis on documentary evidence from the supermarket which showed greater expression in relation to violations of the OSH legislation. From a qualitative perspective, the methodological approach was based on content analysis of thirteen condemnatory sentences, handed down by the potiguar labor justice, and three expert reports from a large supermarket in the city of Natal/RN. Aftermaths are evidenced relating to the cyclical processes of reorganization of capital, demanding requirements for labor organizations whose strategies for survival include identifying mechanisms to extract as much of the work force. Structural determination and ideological context that puts into question the historical achievements of workers, for example the legal devices aimed at preventing workplace accidents, expressed in this research as relativized, showing limitations of reach, as was inferred the indemnities, by material and moral damages, arising from Work-Related Musculoskeletal Diseases (MSDs'S), recognized by the laborite judiciary