Preparing health professionals to work in diabetes education and care: a situation analysis

Worldwide, the increasing prevalence of chronic diseases places enormous expectations of and responsibility on health systems. Preparing the health workforce to adequately respond to these increasing demands is a challenge of critical importance. The aim of this study was to provide an overview of how health professionals (HPs) are prepared to work in diabetes care and education. A one shot cross-sectional study was undertaken to collect the data using self-completed anonymous on-line questionnaires. The invitation to complete the questionnaire was sent to more than 3745 HPs. One thousand one hundred and sixteen responses were collected, 68% were from highincome countries and 32% from middle- and low-income countries (LMIC). Most HPs developed their knowledge and skills through work experience and self-study: very few attended a formal education program as part of their training. Thirty-six percent of LMIC respondents did not have a credential/certification in diabetes and 72% reported their organizations support them to learn about diabetes education/care. Moreover, 80% referred to the International Diabetes Federation publications when making clinical decisions or planning diabetes care. Results provide insight into how HPs are educationally prepared to work in diabetes education and care and could serve as a foundation for future research. These findings emphasize the emerging necessity to develop certified/credentialing programs for HPs, especially in LMIC.

Indicators for evaluating cancer organizations' support services: performance and associations with empowerment

Community-based cancer organizations provide services to support patients. An anticipated benefit of these services is patient empowerment. However, this outcome has not been evaluated because of the lack of validated health-related empowerment questionnaires in the cancer context. In this validation study, the authors assessed the extent to which 16 indicators used by the Canadian Cancer Society (CCS) and the Cancer Council Victoria, Australia (CCV) to evaluate their services were associated with health-related empowerment.

Mental health consumers' perceptions of quality of life and mental health care

Research spanning the past decade consistently reports that people with severe mental illnesses experience lower quality of life than the general population, however, little is known about what "quality of life" means to consumers, or how quality of life can be promoted in mental health care. This study measured the Quality of Life of mental health consumers receiving care from a Mental Health Nurse Incentive Program, and examined consumer perceptions of quality of life. The study used an exploratory design incorporating the WHOQOL-brèf survey and four additional qualitative questions for data collection. Data were analysed using descriptive and correlational statistics. Participants (n = 49) reported lower quality of life scores on all four domains of the WHOQOL-brèf and lower overall ratings for "quality of life" than the general population. Having basic needs met, good relationships with family and friends, regular support, and improved social connectedness were identified by consumers as important to their quality of life.

Spinal immobilisaton in pre-hospital and emergency care: A systematic review of the literature

Background: Spinal immobilisation has been a mainstay of trauma care for decades and is based on the premise that immobilisation will prevent further neurological compromise in patients with a spinal column injury. The aim of this systematic review was to examine the evidence related to spinal immobilisation in pre-hospital and emergency care settings. Methods: In February 2015, we performed a systematic literature review of English language publications from 1966 to January 2015 indexed in MEDLINE and Cochrane library using the following search terms: 'spinal injuries' OR 'spinal cord injuries' AND 'emergency treatment' OR 'emergency care' OR 'first aid' AND immobilisation. EMBASE was searched for keywords 'spinal injury OR 'spinal cord injury' OR 'spine fracture AND 'emergency care' OR 'prehospital care'. Results: There were 47 studies meeting inclusion criteria for further review. Ten studies were case series (level of evidence IV) and there were 37 studies from which data were extrapolated from healthy volunteers, cadavers or multiple trauma patients. There were 15 studies that were supportive, 13 studies that were neutral, and 19 studies opposing spinal immobilisation. Conclusion: There are no published high-level studies that assess the efficacy of spinal immobilisation in pre-hospital and emergency care settings. Almost all of the current evidence is related to spinal immobilisation is extrapolated data, mostly from healthy volunteers.

Gestão estratégica de políticas públicas pelos governos subnacionais: regionalização, parceria, e cooperação intergovernamental na área da saúde no Estado de São Paulo

A pesquisa objetiva: a) compreender o novo papel dos Estados subnacionais, especialmente de nível regional, no contexto de globalização, fragmentação, enfraquecimento do estado-nação e emergência de instâncias supranacionais de poder; b) suprir a carência de estudos atuais voltados para a regionalização da gestão da saúde - dado que a ênfase vem recaindo sobre o processo de municipalização; c) analisar experiências inovadoras visando subsidiar a formulação de propostas de reforma que levem em conta as mudanças recentes no padrão de relacionamento estado-sociedade e as novas formas de provisão dos serviços de saúde, as quais demandam um maior esforço de coordenação ao nível regional. É analisado o papel desempenhado pela Secretaria de Estado da Saúde de São Paulo na implantação do processo de regionalização, especialmente a partir da promulgação, pelo MS, da NOAS-2001 - que define padrões para a regionalização da assistência, no contexto de municipalização e descentralização. O estudo detalhará as possibilidades de se estabelecer parcerias entre estados e municípios, uma vez que os primeiros estão desenvolvendo sua capacidade de coordenação e regulação no âmbito intraestadual e supramunicipal; enquanto estes últimos estão assumindo gradativamente a provisão direta e a organização dos serviços de saúde no nível municipal, ao mesmo tempo em que se unem em instâncias associativas intermunicipais.

Fostering innovation and entrepreneurship in Brazil through private equity and venture capital public policies

It is well documented the positive impact of the Private Equity and Venture Capital (PE/VC) industry on the creation and development of highly successful innovative companies in a few countries, mainly in the United States. PE/VC firms provide not only capital to startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that usually have financing gap, especially in emerging markets, but also strategic resources that enable these enterprises to commercialize innovation. As consequence, government incentive and nurture of local PE/VC industries would be expected in emerging economies due to innovation‟s importance to economic growth. This paper aims to identify if the Brazilian government has supported local PE/VC industry throughout the years in order to foster favorable conditions to creating and developing successful innovative businesses. It also analyzes Brazil‟s main public policies towards PE/VC and if they encompass all the three stages of its cycle – fundraising, investing and exiting. I conducted an empirical research which collected primary data from a sample of 127 PE/VC firms (90% of the population) operating in Brazil as of June, 2008. All firms answered a webbased questionnaire that collected quantitative data regarding their investment vehicles, portfolio companies, investments and exits. I compared the data obtained from the survey with the main local governmental PE/VC support programs. First, I confirmed the hypothesis that the Brazilian government has been using the PE/VC industry as a public policy towards entrepreneurship and innovation. Second, I identified that although PE/VC public policies in Brazil are mostly concentrated in fundraising phase, they have been able to positively impact the whole cycle. Third, it became clear that the Brazilian government became more concerned about Seed and Venture Capital (VC) Early stages due to their importance to the entire PE/VC value chain. As consequence, I conclude that those public policies have been very important to build a dynamic and strong local PE/VC industry, whose committed capital grew 50% per year between 2005 and 2008 to achieve US$27 billion, which invested US$ 11 billion, which employs 1,400 professionals (75% with postgraduate degrees) and maintains 482 portfolio companies, mostly SMEs. In addition, PE/VCbacked companies represented one third of the Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) that occurred in Brazil between 2004 and 2008 (approximately US$15 billion).

Leadership of portuguese community schools in the East Coast of the United States and the public policies of education: a multiple case studies

The Portuguese community schools of the United States located in the areas of larger Portuguese population concentration are social organizations that come materializing throughout decades the designs of the educative policies of the Portuguese government in relation to the expansion and preservation of the language, the culture and the history of Portugal. These designs of the educative policies are enrolled in the Constitution of the Republic (1976), in the Basic Law of Educative System (1986) and, over all, in the successive legislative norms (Decree-laws and ordinances) of the successive governments. Portuguese community schools in the United States are structuralized in analogous way to schools of the Portuguese geographic space. For this qualitative study (multiple case), four directors of Portuguese schools of the East Coast of the United States were interviewed; two schools are in the state of Rhode Island and the other two are in the state of Massachusetts. Also, it was administered the questionnaire on practices of leadership “Leadership Practices Inventory” (LPI) of Kouzes and Posner (2002) to collect additional data about practices of leadership on the directors of the schools. The LPI evaluates practices of leadership classifying them in five domains: (a) Model the way; (b) Inspire a shared vision; (c) Challenge the process; (d) Enable others to act; and, (e) Encourage the heart. Results of this qualitative research indicate that the Portuguese Government has not had an educative policy stimulant, coherent and consistent of support, incentive, maintenance and diffusion of the Portuguese language and culture and the directors of the studied schools they have a proactive and serving leadership style in conducting the management of Portuguese community schools. The five practices of leadership are highly practiced by the directors of the studied schools above all the practices “Enable others to act” and “Encourage the heart”.

O direito coletivo prestacional à saúde e o poder judiciário: a concretização do art. 196 da Constituição de 1988 pela via jurisdicional

During the ninth century, owing to the process of industrialization, new social conflicts were showed, forcing the Government not to remain inert. The necessity of answer to these new demands requires from the State some actions that assure the new economic, cultural and social rights, able to exceed the formal equality, according to the principles of redistributive equality and well-being. Among the social rights, the right to health is showed up, which is placed at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Treaty for the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as a necessary term to promote the dignity and the free development of the human personality. Under the Constitutional Law, it is clear that the implementation of the right to health, placed at the 6th article of the Brazilian Constitution, demands a government activity, which usually requires a provision of material goods, depending on budgetary resources. The Legislative and Executive Branches have a very important role in compliance with the constitutional regulations about the satisfactory offer of health care services, besides the correct use of the resources at this area. The adoption of public policies is the way of Government action to the planning and realization of this right. Though, some public policies are usually made apart from the social compromises, to the detriment of the basic social rights. The government has a discretionary competence to manage the health services. That is the reason it is necessary the control of the political choices, through the popular control, the extrajudicial control by the Account Courts, or the judicial review. Owed to the constitutionalization of social rights, the constitutional justice has a very relevant role, concerning to the constitutional jurisdiction, in a way the Judiciary Branch assume your position as a player that transforms the society. On the control of the public health policies, there is a cast of official instruments, judicial or not, to the guarantee of the collective right to the public health services, and to allow the citizens to reach the real implementation of the right to health

Problematizando a Reforma Psiquiátrica na atualidade: a saúde mental como campo da práxis

Mental Health, in the form of the Psychiatric Reform, and the Anti-Asylum Movement do not ignore the production of knowledge about that field, mainly due to the consolidation of Public Health as a field of knowledge. The article explores some authors who consider Mental Health as a new field of knowledge, introducing a new paradigm in the perception of health - Disease and Care -; however, the goal is to introduce Psychosocial Care as a means to enforce the transdisciplinary and multiprofessional practices. The possibility is that mental health produces developments in Health, consolidating the public policies. In practice, the hospital-centered and drug-based model still predominates, and there are setbacks to be overcome by taking advantage of loopholes capable of breaking with what is instituted.

Economic Survey of Latin America and the Caribbean 2009-2010: The distributive impact of public policies

Includes bibliography

Public policies for the information society: a shared vision?

Includes bibliography

Crisis and public policies in Latin America and the Caribbean

Includes bibliography

Sumary of the presentation at the seminar on the regulation of public services: water and elctricity

Includes bibliography

Health benefits guarantees in Latin America: equity and quasi market restructuring at the beginning of the millennium

Includes bibliography