Barriers to interventions aimed at promoting the health of health care workers in Brazil

Objective. To search the literature for circumstances that impede injury and disease prevention and other activities intended to improve the health of the health care worker. Methods. The SciELO database was searched for articles published in 1967-2008. This was supplemented by a PubMed search for the period 1950-2008. The following key words were used to identify articles in English, Portuguese, and Spanish: work, health personnel, occupational, risks, diseases, ergonomics, work ability, quality of life, organization, accidents, work conditions, intervention, and administration. Articles on injury and disease prevention and occupational health in a health care setting in Latin America were selected, along with articles focused on health promotion in the health sector. Results. The following shortcomings were identified: activities lacked a sound theoretical foundation and were not integrated with the health services management; a failure to evaluate the effectiveness of the activity; health surveillance focused solely on a specific disease or injury; management not committed to the proposed activity; miscommunication; inability of workers to participate, or control the work environment; and, programs or efforts that were limited to changing the workers` behaviors. Conclusions. The literature shows that all the barriers identified by this study affect both the health care workers` health as well as their productivity.

The Adequacy of Health Care Services for the Elderly in China

This study examines the adequacy of health care services for the elderly in China, specifically focusing on the influence of location, method of payment, living situation, and financial status. The study finds that rural residents, respondents living alone and respondents unable to meet all of their daily costs have a lower probability of reporting the availability of adequate health care. It also investigates the reasons why elderly respondents do not visit the hospital when it is necessary, concluding that financial and distance constraints are main deterrents. Finally, changes in the reported adequacy of health care over time are taken into consideration, and are found to follow a likely pattern given the history of the health care system in China. This is an important investigation given the historical background of health care in China, the current cost problems facing residents, and, consequently, the policy changes that will need to be implemented by the Chinese government in the near future.

Saúde Mental e enfermagem: em busca da integralidade na ESF

The present work shows an inquiry about the conceptions and practical work of the nursing professionals on the accompaniment of mental sick patients in the Family s Health Strategy, under the approach of the completeness in health. The justification of this research is given by bringing an special attention concerning the subjet to these professionals of health: the gradual abandonment of the traditional manicomial model leads to the insertion of mental patients in the community . The nursing professionals must be prepared to receive these patients in the basic net of health and contribute to help their adaptation and insertion in the social environment as citizen. In this context, considering the entire attention to the mental health, it is important to detach that the assistance to the patient must search his reinsertion in the community by providing programs that develops his sociability. This analytical study was developed using a qualitative approach and a thematic verbal history. Ten nurses of Nova Natal s Health of the Family Unit, of Felipe Camarão Mista s Unit and of Cidade da Esperança s Health Unit contributed for its development . The information was acquired through an instrument research that made possible the accomplishment of the interviews. These ones were set previously and counted on the assent of the participants. The interviews were recorded and analyzed in accordance with the pertinent literature concerning the subject. The aggregation of the information was then discussed. At this moment three thematic axles were defined dividing the categories of analysis. According to the results of the interviews, the practical procedure given to the patients with mental upheaval is resumed by the prescription of psicotroprics medicaments. It doesn t provide an accompaniment by the professionals of health, specifically, nurses, to the patients and their families. The lack of qualification and a multi-professional team emerged as one of the challenges for the implementation of practical procedures towards the patients with mental upheaval. Therefore, the results of this research show the necessity of transformations in the current scene of the mental health in the Family s Health Strategy. These changes can be reached by politics investments on the mental health area, not only financially but by providing human resources that should allow the professionals to exert the completeness procedures

Acompanhando o crescimento e o desenvolvimento da criança : uma intervenção integrada entre enfermagem e família

The accompanying the growth and development of the child is the guiding line of basic health measures directed at this public, acting within the scope of health monitoring and inferring positively in the rate of infant morbidity and mortality, which are still a preoccupation worldwide and in Brazil. However, mostly, this practice is based on the biomedical model of care, individualized, with emphasis on the medicalization and complaints, favoring the passivity of users. Given this issue, aim to develop accompanying the growth and development of the child in a Basic Unit Family Health, through a collective approach of medical care next to a health team, especially nurses and caregivers. This is a qualitative study, with the research-action method. Involved the four nurses and twenty-six of children's caregivers of the area of Basic Unit Family Health of Cidade Nova, in Natal, in the period from February to July 2010. The results were analyzed following the direction of the thematic analysis of Freire. In the situation analysis of the current reality of the accompanying the growth and development the children in the Basic Unit Family Health, through participant observation and applying a questionnaire to the nurses, we realize that despite these professionals have a knowledge tied to the paradigm of health promotion, in practice the monitoring of child is done through individual consultations in outpatient room, based on complaints brought by caregivers, with little solvability in actions employed. Given the need for change in medical care model, we decided jointly, in the focal group, for the collective monitoring of children's the growth and development, featuring then this proposal to the multidisciplinary team, discussing the participation of professional categories and planned collectively the actions. In the implementation stage of collective action, we contemplate the execution by the caregivers of anamnesis and physical examination, recording data in the Child Health Handbook and discussion of clinical findings, under the supervision of nurses and facilitators. In the evaluation, we found that this collective accompanying strategy allowed to caregivers learn new knowledge, exchange experiences, assistance in home care, beyond reduce the waiting time for medical care and creating opportunity of more time for debate about the children‟s health situation, differing of ambulatory care. As difficulties, we face with a high rate of defaulters (53.8%), lack of motivation and passivity of the users, little participation of other health professionals and nurses' involvement in other activities, technical and bureaucratic in the moment of care. Thus, we note also a strong rooting of individual clinical model on the way of thinking and acting of nurses and caregivers

Predictors of health status do not change over three-year periods and exacerbation makes difference in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

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

Knowledge and attitudes of health care workers from intensive care units regarding nosocomial transmission of influenza: a study on the immediate pre-pandemic period

The transmission of influenza in health care settings is a major threat to patients, especially those with severe diseases. The attitude of health care workers (HCWs) may influence the transmission of countless infections. The current study aimed to quantify knowledge and identify attitudes of HCWs involved in intensive care units (ICUs) regarding the risk of nosocomial influenza transmission. A questionnaire was applied through interviews to HCWs who worked in one of the five ICUs from a teaching hospital. Questions about influenza were deliberately dispersed among others that assessed several infectious agents. Forty-two HCWs were interviewed: nine physicians, ten nurses and 23 nursing technicians or auxiliaries. Among the 42 HCWs, 98% were aware of the potential transmission of influenza virus in the ICUs, but only 31% would indicate droplet precautions for patients with suspected infection. Moreover, only 31% of them had been vaccinated against influenza in the last campaign (2008). Nursing technicians or auxiliaries were more likely to have been vaccinated, both by univariate and multivariable analysis. When asked about absenteeism, only 10% of the study subjects stated that they would not go to work if they had an influenza-like illness. Those findings suggest that, in non-pandemic periods, influenza control in hospitals requires strategies that combine continuous education with changes in organizational culture.

Spatial distribution of trachoma cases in the City of Bauru, State of São Paulo, Brazil, detected in 2006: defining key areas for improvement of health resources

Introduction: The objective of this study was to analyze the spatial behavior of the occurrence of trachoma cases detected in the City of Bauru, State of São Paulo, Brazil, in 2006 in order to use the information collected to set priority areas for optimization of health resources. Methods: the trachoma cases identified in 2006 were georeferenced. The data evaluated were: schools where the trachoma cases studied, data from the 2000 Census, census tract, type of housing, water supply conditions, distribution of income and levels of education of household heads. In the Google Earth® software and TerraView® were made descriptive spatial analysis and estimates of the Kernel. Each area was studied by interpolation of the density surfaces exposing events to facilitate to recognize the clusters. Results: of the 66 cases detected, only one (1.5%) was not a resident of the city's outskirts. A positive association was detected of trachoma cases and the percentage of heads of household with income below three minimum wages and schooling under eight years of education. Conclusions: The recognition of the spatial distribution of trachoma cases coincided with the areas of greatest social inequality in Bauru City. The micro-areas identified are those that should be prioritized in the rationalization of health resources. There is the possibility of using the trachoma cases detected as an indicator of performance of micro priority health programs.

Comparison between univariate and bivariate geostatistical models for estimating catch per unit of effort (cpue): A simulation study

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)