Lessons learned from stakeholders in a facilitation intervention targeting neonatal health in Quang Ninh province, Vietnam

BACKGROUND: In northern Vietnam the Neonatal health - Knowledge Into Practice (NeoKIP, Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN44599712) trial has evaluated facilitation as a knowledge translation intervention to improve neonatal survival. The results demonstrated that intervention sites, each having an assigned group including local stakeholders supported by a facilitator, lowered the neonatal mortality rate by 50% during the last intervention year compared with control sites. This process evaluation was conducted to identify and describe mechanisms of the NeoKIP intervention based on experiences of facilitators and intervention group members. METHODS: Four focus group discussions (FGDs) were conducted with all facilitators at different occasions and 12 FGDs with 6 intervention groups at 2 occasions. Fifteen FGDs were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, translated into English, and analysed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Four themes and 17 sub-themes emerged from the 3 FGDs with facilitators, and 5 themes and 18 sub-themes were identified from the 12 FGDs with the intervention groups mirroring the process of, and the barriers to, the intervention. Facilitators and intervention group members concurred that having groups representing various organisations was beneficial. Facilitators were considered important in assembling the groups. The facilitators functioned best if coming from the same geographical area as the groups and if they were able to come to terms with the chair of the groups. However, the facilitators' lack of health knowledge was regarded as a deficit for assisting the groups' assignments. FGD participants experienced the NeoKIP intervention to have impact on the knowledge and behaviour of both intervention group members and the general public, however, they found that the intervention was a slow and time-consuming process. Perceived facilitation barriers were lack of money, inadequate support, and the function of the intervention groups. CONCLUSIONS: This qualitative process evaluation contributes to explain the improved neonatal survival and why this occurred after a latent period in the NeoKIP project. The used knowledge translation intervention, where facilitators supported multi-stakeholder coalitions with the mandate to impact upon attitudes and behaviour in the communes, has low costs and potential for being scaled-up within existing healthcare systems.

Assistência a mulher com câncer de mama em um cenro de referência no Estado da Paraíba

The assistance to women who have breast cancer is studied in a Reference Center in Paraiba and also the way this assistance is performed in a School Hospital maintained by SUS (Single Health System) is questioned. Breast cancer demands institutional organization, provision of financial, material and human resources, requiring, from the health system, effective assistance with new technologies which make it possible for the population their access to specialized medical services although it not always is able to guarantee those services nor the rights which the legislation granted them, inhibiting a proper relationship between the health professional and the patient. The theme is discussed through a transdisciplinary knowledge view and has as its theoretical referential the contribution of classical and contemporary authors from the human and social sciences and, as an empirical research strategy, the structured interview. The objectives of the research were: identify how the assistance to women with breast cancer is carried on at a Reference Center on Oncology in Campina Grande, Paraiba, identifying their difficulties and their satisfaction with the received assistance; draw up a profile of the women with breast cancer who were assisted in this Reference Center; understand their gynecological and obstetric antecedents, life styles, age group and stage of the disease when the treatment started; check their knowledge about their rights and which benefits they had received. Most women ranged between 40 and 59 years old (63%), which corresponds to the risk range of developing breast cancer. As to their occupations, 38.3% were housewives and 30.1% retired, whose family income was among those who received between less than a minimum salary and one minimum salary (58.2%). This population was mainly constituted of married women (60.2%), whose most frequent schooling was an incomplete elementary school (27.6%) and complete elementary school (24.1%), which added up to 51.6%. It was observed that the majority of the women seemed to be satisfied with the assistance received, noting that a minimum care was enough to define this satisfaction, although it is perceived that the access to the health system does not ensure the ideal attention conditions they need; it was verified that the availability of the services and the assistance itself are seen (in the local culture) as a favor and not as a right. It is also observed that only 30% of the women mentioned that they knew about their rights and the most mentioned ones were the disease assistance (13%), the medicines (13%) and the treatment (12%), which represent the most important triad to face the disease and around which the oncologic assistance most focus on. It is concluded that the condition of the users´ minimum existential of a public health unit and the condition of belonging to a lower social stratum were variables that influenced the respondents´ satisfaction in relation to the assistance received but the importance of the Reference Center for the women with breast cancer´s assistance for the whole region cannot be denied as well as the need to broaden the way the policy of the oncologic assistance in Brazil in the local realm is seen

O Cariri cearense: da ocupação do território à institucionalização da região metropolitana do Cariri

Urbanization in their mearing simpler, the agglomeration of people, occurred from the time that the productive activities have to be based on trade. The first cities arose when the evolution of agriculture allowed the production and storage of surpluses. However, with industrialization was that urbanization becomes intense, according to Singer (1987), the industrial revolution was to stage, from the beginning, the urban area. It requires, in its proximity, the presence of a large number of workers. With respect to the Cariri cearense, the occupation of its territory is associated with the movement of agricultural surpluses produced and reproduced under the hegemony of merchant capital and due to the development of extensive cattle that promoted the territorial occupation of Ceará. From the 1960s, the region has undergone changes in its productive structure due to industrial planning policies of the government of Ceará. However it was in the 1990s that the region itself as economic and urban polo because policies to attract investments from the state government of Ceará. This policy led to boosting trade and services marking the predominance of tertiary activities in the region, especially the retail, wholesale , medical services and education. Investments also consolidated the industrial park area making it diverse, especially the footwear industries, mining, non-metallic minerals, transport equipment, pharmaceutical chemical, food and beverages, rubber and leather and construction. Thus, the aim of this study was to review the region of Cariri cearense occupation of its territory institutionalizing its metropolitan region, to understand what factors influenced the Cariri cearense become an important area in urban and economic terms in the interior of Ceará. In order to develop this research in that refers to the methodological perspective, research is guided by bibliographic studies and also makes use of secondary data analysis (population, GDP, urbanization rate, employment) of the main databases the country, as IBGE, IPEADATA and RAIS - MTE

Transtornos mentais comuns e uso de psicofármacos: impacto das condições socioeconômicas

OBJETIVO: Avaliar a influência das condições socioeconômicas na associação entre transtornos mentais comuns, uso de serviços de saúde e de psicofármacos. MÉTODOS: Estudo transversal populacional conduzido na cidade de Botucatu, SP, com amostragem probabilística, estratificada e por conglomerados. Foram realizadas entrevistas domiciliares com 1.023 sujeitos de 15 anos ou mais de idade, entre 2001 e 2002. Transtorno mental comum foi avaliado utilizando o Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ-20). O uso de serviços foi investigado com relação à quinzena anterior à entrevista e uso de psicotrópicos, nos três dias anteriores. Utilizou-se regressão logística para análise multivariável, considerando o efeito do desenho. RESULTADOS: No total da amostra, 13,4% (IC 95%: 10,7;16,0) procuraram serviços de saúde na quinzena anterior à entrevista. A procura de serviços de saúde se associou ao sexo feminino (OR=2,0) e à presença de transtorno mental comum (OR=2,2). Na amostra 13,3% (IC 95%: 9,2;17,5) referiram ter usado ao menos um psicotrópico, destacando-se os antidepressivos (5,0%) e os benzodiazepínicos (3,1%). Na análise multivariável, sexo feminino e presença de transtorno mental comum mantiveram-se associados ao uso de benzodiazepínicos. Renda per capita mostrou-se direta e independentemente associada ao uso de psicofármacos, conforme aumento da renda. CONCLUSÕES: Menor renda associou-se à presença de transtorno mental comum, mas não ao uso de psicotrópicos. A associação entre transtorno mental comum e uso de psicotrópicos e maior renda reforça a hipótese da existência de iniqüidades no acesso à assistência médica na população estudada.

Care arrangements for people with dementia in developing countries

Background: Rapid demographic ageing will soon lead to large increases in the numbers of persons with dementia in developing countries. This study is the first comprehensive assessment of care arrangements for people with dementia in those regions. Methods: A descriptive and comparative study of dementia care; caregiver characteristics, the nature of care provided, and the practical, psychological (Zarit Burden Interview, General Health Questionnaire) and economic impact upon the caregiver in 24 centres in India, China and South East Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean and Africa. Results: We interviewed 706 persons with dementia, and their caregivers. Most caregivers were women, living with the person with dementia in extended family households. One-quarter to one-half of households included a child. Larger households were associated with lower caregiver strain, where the caregiver was co-resident. However, despite the traditional apparatus of family care, levels of caregiver strain were at least as high as in the developed world. Many had cutback on work to care and faced the additional expense of paid carers and health services. Families from the poorest countries were particularly likely to have used expensive private medical services, and to be spending more than 10% of the per capita GNP on health care. Conclusions: Older people in developing countries are indivisible from their younger family members. The high levels of family strain identified in this study feed into the cycle of disadvantage and should thus be a concern for policymakers in the developing world. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Usos das vias urbanas em Presidente Prudente: espaços públicos e legislação urbana

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Responsabilidade e compromisso: serviços médicos em Londrina e as relações de médicos com estes serviços – 1933-1971

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Condições de saúde, trabalho e hábitos de vida de trabalhadores de um campus universitário

Pós-graduação em Enfermagem (mestrado profissional) - FMB

Avaliação dos parâmetros gasométricos dos traumatizados durante o atendimento pré-hospitalar móvel

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate gasometric differences of severe trauma patients requiring intubation in prehospital care. METHODS: Patients requiring airway management were submitted to collection of arterial blood samples at the beginning of pre-hospital care and at arrival at the Emergency Room. We analyzed: Glasgow Coma Scale, respiratory rate, arterial pH, arterial partial pressure of CO2 (PaCO2), arterial partial pressure of O2 (PaO2), base excess (BE), hemoglobin O2 saturation (SpO2) and the relation of PaO2 and inspired O2 (PaO2/FiO2). RESULTS: There was statistical significance of the mean differences between the data collected at the site of the accident and at the entrance of the ER as for respiratory rate (p = 0.0181), Glasgow Coma Scale (p = 0.0084), PaO2 (p <0.0001) and SpO2 (p = 0.0018). CONCLUSION: tracheal intubation changes the parameters PaO2 and SpO2. There was no difference in metabolic parameters (pH, bicarbonate and base excess). In the analysis of blood gas parameters between survivors and non-survivors there was statistical difference between PaO2, hemoglobin oxygen saturation and base excess.

Orientações de alta: cartões padronizados ajudam na compreensão dos pacientes do pronto socorro?

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the addition of discharge standard illustrated cards improves understanding of patients in the emergency room. METHODS: We conducted a prospective, randomized, interventional study with 228 patients discharged from the emergency department. All patients were interviewed and tested for the level of understanding of discharge instructions. Some of them received the intervention, with the standard cards, and another did not, constituting the control group. RESULTS: The average of followed discharge guidelines of the group that received the cards was higher than the control group, with statistical significance (p=0.009). When segregated by age, the group between 16 and 35 years of both sexes had the best average of followed guidelines, statistically, than the average of the control group (p=0.01). The difference between the mean orientations between the control group and the card for patients undergoing procedures was statistically significant (p=0.02); as for the stratification according to the number of procedures, the significance increases when that is equal to 1 (p=0.001) and decreased the more procedures were carried out. CONCLUSION: The introduction of discharge standard orientation cards was associated with improvement in the understanding of patients. Without replacing the verbal directions, which establishes dialogue and doctor-patient bonding, cards appear as auxiliary elements, facilitating understanding and care guidelines.

Divergências entre histórico da consulta e diagnóstico médico de agressões físicas registradas nos prontuários de uma unidade de urgência e emergência

There can be several indicators of violence in society. However, in no other health unit such violence acquires visibility as in emergency. This study aimed to examine whether there is divergence between the history of medical consultation and diagnosis of physical aggressions in the emergency unit. A cross-sectional study was conducted in an emergency unit in the city of Araçatuba, state of São Paulo, Brazil, based on medical records, considering data on patients, lesions, history, diagnosis and treatment. Out of 133,537 visits, only 153 were recorded as physical aggressions, and 161 informed violence in the history of the consultation; 59.6% were male, 60.6% were between 20 and 44 years old. Excoriations, pain and injury predominated. There were no associations between state violence in the diagnosis and the characteristics of patients and visits (schedule, routing, gender, age). The conclusion is that in most cases violence reported in the history of the consultation was not mentioned in the diagnosis of injuries. The characteristics of care and patients were not related to the fact that professionals diagnosed the case as violence.

Estimação de metas estratégicas por meio de análise por envoltória de dados e modelo da Barganha de Nash: aplicação na área de saúde publica

Pós-graduação em Engenharia Mecânica - FEG