International Archives of Medicine (E-Journal)
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Nursing care for the prevention of falls in the elderly: an integrative review
No full textObjective: To evaluate the evidence available in the literature on nursing care for the prevention of falls among the elderly.
Method: Integrative review from studies published in the period 2005-2015 found in the databases LILACS, PubMed and CINAHL. The combination of the descriptors elderly, accidents from falls and nursing care in English, Portuguese and Spanish languages was used in the search.
Results: Ten studies were selected. The thematic analysis resulted in three categories: health education as a strategy for preventing falls in the elderly, identification of risk factors for the occurrence of falls in the elderly as a strategy for prevention and use of care technologies for the prevention of falls in the elderly.
Conclusion: A greater participation of nursing in the production of research directed to this theme is suggested, from the development of intervention studies that may reveal care to be applied in the different scenarios of caring for the health of the elderly.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3823/239
Empirical Indicators of Psychobiological Needs of Pregnant Women: Integrative Review
No full textIntroduction: Pregnancy is a natural phenomenon whose evolution requires routine monitoring in order to promote well-being and comfort to the woman and her family.
Objective: To analyze the scientific literature on empirical indicators of the pregnant woman needs.
Method: This is an integrative review considering publications between years 2005 and 2014. Databases consulted were Cochrane, CINAHL, Lilacs, Pubmed, Scopus and Journal of Midwifery. It was used as inclusion criteria articles published in full that dealt indicators related to the need of women during pregnancy. In 36 articles selected 64 indicators were identified consistent to the physiological needs of pregnant women.
Results: The results show imbalances especially eating habits, physical activity, depression and anxiety. It was found low supply of treatments and tests relating to prenatal program.
Conclusion: The reviewed publications indicate the existence of gaps in the psychobiological level of the pregnant woman. This situation is worrying when it is assumed that pregnant women not getting their needs met, they are predisposed to injuries to their health and of the conceptus and of the household as a social cell
Influence of religious leaders in the health-disease process
No full textIntroduction: Religion has helped the lower classes to raise the perspective of "divine justice" in the struggle for survival by allowing their believers to seek, in their practices, under the influence of religious leaders, the main guidelines to alleviate the suffering from the health-disease process.
Objective: Unveil the limits and potentialities of religious leaders' influence on the health-disease process.
Materials and Methods: Exploratory-type research, with a qualitative approach, based methodologically on the Historical Dialectical Materialism. For the data analysis, one used the discourse analysis technique proposed by Fiorin.
Results: From the empirical universe, two analytical categories emerged: (1. Limits and possibilities of religious influence in relation to the health-disease process; 2. Vulnerabilities of the Unified Health System and the complementarity of religion: Interfaces of the health-disease process in postmodernity), in which religious practices, institutions and leaders express positively health care in the face of the disease process. However, the religious leader's power relations over the community and religious fanaticism make the search for religion to have a negative influence on people's health-disease process.
Conclusion: Religious leaders encourage the complementarity between religion and medicine only at times when their believers need medium and high-complexity assistance, showing little attention to the preventive aspects of self-care, which reinforces the need to invest in new studies in the area
Autonomy Versus Shame: Body Perceptions Of Colostomized Patients In Southeastern Brazil
No full textBackground: This study discusses the psychosocial characteristics of colostomy users' feelings.
Methods: Qualitative research with colostomized patients that constituted one of the objectives of the Rectal Cancer Assessment (ACRE) study of the National Cancer Institute José Alencar Gomes da Silva - INCA. Data interpretation had as the main supposition the understanding that interpretations about one’s body are characterized by speeches and representations.
Results: The feeling of shame was frequent in the testimonials. The shame of the colostomized body and the desire to hide it are associated with the negative feelings attributed to the “out-of-standard” body and the feces, collective and individual feelings that can be used as a basis for comparison in body interpretation.
Conclusion: The colostomized body is still seen as a taboo, which intensifies feelings of isolation, abnormality, and not belonging, making it even more difficult to adapt, promote mental health and develop autonomy.
Keywords: Body, Colostomy, Health promotion, Colorectal cancer. 
Clinical Complications In Pregnancy And The Relationship With Low Birth Weight And Prematurity Of The Newborn
Get PDFStudy in order to know the results of prenatal care related to clinical complications of pregnancy, newborn’s low birth weight and prematurity in the context of the users of the service. Descriptive, exploratory research with quantitative approach developed with 305 users who underwent prenatal care in primary care in the city of Mossoró-RN. The data collection occurred from the application of a validated questionnaire, the IPR-PRENATAL index. The results indicate that over 50% of pregnant women had some type of complication during their pregnancy process, among intercurrent diseases in pregnancy, and experienced by users, the urinary tract infection was the most prevalent (28.0%), followed by anemia (19.3%) and hypertension (15.7%). Hypertension and anemia were the only events that interfere with the newborn’s weight, which showed that the existence of complications contributes in three times to the occurrence of low birth weight. In this sense, the quality of prenatal care can minimize that type of complication
Sexuality Workshop For Adolescents: Participative Strategy For Collective Knowledge Construction
Get PDFBackground: This is a quali- quantitative research and was conducted in a basic health unit aiming to investigate female adolescents’ knowledge, practices and attitudes concerning sexuality.
Methodology: The action-research methodology was used to develop workshop activities because it is a participative methodology. The workshop was performed in two modules with the participation of 29 female adolescents, and data were collected by questionnaires addressing two groups of adolescents who had or had not begun sexual activity.
Results: The representations about sexuality were related to sexual relationships and showed erroneous information concerning sexually transmitted infections, which makes the adolescents vulnerable. Many of them reported not to know anything about infections or contraceptive methods, to know about contraceptive pills and condoms and to have doubts about condom use, and when experiencing sexuality, gender manifestation was present in the adolescents’ descriptions.
Conclusion: Strict gender roles and a patriarchal and a chauvinistic social structure determine adolescents’ behaviors that make them believe in two opposing worlds, the masculine and the feminine worlds. With this regard, identities are constructed in multiple institutions that produce and reproduce differences. Among such institutions, schools, families and the media are noteworthy, since, despite social and individual resistance movements, they impose behavioral models according to prevailing social practices and to the objectives of the consumer and producer market. It is important to reflect about the inclusion of sexual diversity in order to act in this reality by understanding sexuality in the perspective of human rights.
Key words: Sexuality, Adolescent, Health
Trachoma as cause of blindness: literature review
Get PDFThis is a literature review that used as database articles in websites like Bireme, SciELO, LILACS, Journals and Webartigos. Development: Trachoma is an ocular inflammatory disease, whose etiological agent is Chlamydia trachomatis, which affects the conjunctiva and cornea causing a chronic relapsing keratoconjunctivitis, in the course of time may lead to the formation of entropion, trichiasis and possible blindness. Its transmission occurs in the home environment, directly or indirectly. The occurrence of trachoma is mostly where hygiene and lifestyle habits are precarious. According to the World Health Organization, there are six million people currently infected. Conclusion: The study shows the importance of knowledge about trachoma, so that Brazil is able to achieve the global goal of eliminating the disease by 2020
Successful Treatment For Chronic Eosinophilic Leukemia (CEL) With Imatinib Mesylate
Get PDFWe report a case of a patient with Chronic Eosinophilic Leukemia (CEL) with mutation in alfa PDGFR gene exhibiting a satisfactory response to treatment with imatinib mesylate. A 25-year-old man presented in a hematology service with a persistent cough and hemogram alterations. His blood count showed a hemoglobin level of 12.5 g/dL and a white blood cell count of 94,030/mm3, eosinophils were 68% of all cells. Bone marrow aspiration and biopsy showed hypercellularity with marked eosinophilia (77%) and erythroid differentiation series was hypocellular with normoblast maturation. The immunohistochemically of the bone biopsy was positive for myeloperoxidase and negative for CD34/CD99, consistent with CEL. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for the beta-fraction of platelet-derived growth factor (PDGFRβ) and Philadelphia chromosome (Ph 1) were negative and the alfa PDGFR (Platelet-Derived Growth Factor) was positive and showed heterozygosis in c.2531T>C on 18 Exon and homozygous in C.2562+1G>A at the region of the splicing site at the 18 intron. Treatment was initiated and maintained by administering 400mg/day imatinib mesylate. Laboratory findings returned to normal ranges, with clinical improvement and a hematological response observed after the second month of therapy. Currently, the patient’s blood count shows the white blood cell count (5,400 total leukocytes), eosinophils (8.6/mm3), hemoglobin (15.5 g/dl), hematocrit (45.4%) and platelets (298,000/mm3) within normal ranges. The mutation search was negative in in peripheral blood one year after the initial treatment. Our work corroborates other studies on the efficacy of imatinib mesylate in the treatment of patients with CSF PDGFR alpha positive. We emphasize the importance of molecular studies, considering its relevance for the correct staging of the disease. Since CEL is a rare disease, it is important to define its etiology and anticipate its treatment, thus minimizing the damage induced by the disease
Deaths by tuberculosis in a priority city for disease control in the Brazilian Northeast: sociodemographic-operational characteristics and vulnerable territories.
Get PDFIntroduction: Incorporating spatial approaches into epidemiological research is a challenge in public health research. The goal in this study was to analyze the spatial distribution of cases of deaths by tuberculosis in Imperatriz – MA (Brazil) and to characterize these events according to sociodemographic and operational characteristics.
Methods: In this ecological study, all deaths from tuberculosis as the primary cause registered in the Mortality Information System from 2005 to 2014 were considered. The research variables were subject to descriptive analysis, point density analysis (Kernel Intensity Estimation) and area analysis.
Results: Fifty cases of deaths by TB were identified, particularly the pulmonary clinical form. Male patients were predominant, with a median age of 59 years, mulatto race/color, single, who had finished secondary education. Most deaths happened at the hospital, with medical care before death and without autopsy. Most events happened at the hospital, with medical care delivery by an assistant physician and without autopsy. The point density revealed heterogeneity in the spatial distribution of the deaths, with rates of up to 2.33 deaths/km2. The area analysis by census sector presented age standardized mortality rates of 0.00 to 4.00 deaths/100,000 inhabitants-year.
Conclusion: The results contributed to the knowledge on the spatial distribution of cases of deaths by Tuberculosis and their characteristics in the research scenario. The importance of space is highlighted as a methodological alternative to support the planning, monitoring and assessment of health actions, targeting interventions to the control of the disease in vulnerable territories.
Keywords: Tuberculosis; Health Information Systems; Mortality; Spatial analysis
Quality Of Care As Perceived By Patients In A Brazilian Hospital: A Non-Randomized Interventional Study
Get PDFObjective: To assess patients’ perceptions of the quality of care delivered by staff who underwent training about humanized care in a private hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Method: This was an exploratory study. The convenience sample consisted of 30 patients, and data were collected via pre-intervention questionnaires, followed by post-intervention questionnaires after a training sessions with 44 employees working in a cardiac intensive unit of a private general hospital in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Dependent variables were analyzed using McNemar’s nonparametric test for repeated measures, considered suitable because of the nominal scale. Percentage differences were calculated using the following equation: ∆%=[(post-test – pre-test)*100/test] with significance set at <0.05.
Results: Improvements were observed in quality of patient care (Δ% = 38.1%, p = 0.031) and clarification of patients’ clinical condition (Δ% = 25%, p = 0.021), in addition to perceived room temperature (Δ % = 40%, p = 0.008) and ambient noise (Δ% = 52.6%, p = 0.002).
Conclusion: Quality of care improved significantly after staff training, demonstrating the essential nature of ongoing education