Availability of palliative care cancer services in Brazil

It has been a difficult task to define the number of patients in need of palliative care, the necessary resources and the specific criteria to structure and adapt palliative care services in Brazil. Until now the quantification of palliative care needs in our country has been estimated in an isolated way and based on international experiences. However, there are doubts about the applicability of these parameters considering the population and territorial dimensions, as well as the regional diversities. The analysis of the population morbidity and mortality profiles is necessary to the establishment of possible parameters to be employed for the assistance in palliative care, such as hospital admissions for the treatment of clinical intercurrences of cancer patients. Aims: To develop estimates of the current situation, the coverage and the need for palliative care services. Identify the number of hospitals that admitted potential patients with palliative care needs and the number of hospital beds used for the hospitalizations. Methods: Retrospective and observation analysis of the hospital admission registers of cancer patients were performed to verify the number of cancer patients in need of palliative care and the number of clinic hospital beds used yearly to admit these patients. Data on hospital admission of cancer patients, like average length of stay and hospital mortality were used. Results: Between 2008 and 2016, were registered in the Hospital Information System of SUS (SIH-SUS) 1,7 million hospitalizations for treatment of clinical intercurrence of cancer patient. These admissions were identified on 3,374 different health units around the country. An average of 91% of all hospitalizations for treatment of clinical intercurrence of cancer patient were registered in 380 hospitals Conclusions: To improve the quality of life, relieve physical suffering, cater for the psychological, spiritual and social needs of people with severe and advanced diseases, as well as to provide support to families and caregivers, it is indispensable to consider the existing models of health care. The inclusion or expansion of palliative attention meets the size, nature and severity of the needs of cancer patients

Palliative Care in Brazil: With a View to Future Needs?

Background: Chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCD) constitute a health problem of growing magnitude in Brazil, leading concerns, to the Ministry of Health (MOH), about the care of persons with chronic conditions (due to advanced diseases), multiple harms to health, convalescents and in need of long-term care, requiring continuous assistance, physical and functional rehabilitation. However, few data exist on the size of the population potentially in need of palliative care in Brazil. Aim: this study is to estimate the size of the Brazilian population that could benefit from palliative care across 26 federated states and the Federal District. Design: this is a cross-sectional study, using national death certificate and hospital admission data. Brazilian death registration and hospital admission data from 1st of January to 31st of December 2014 were analyzed and compared with estimation methods of Rosenwax and Murtagh. Setting/participants: all adults (≥ 15 years old) who died in the period of 1st of January to 31st of December 2014 in Brazil. Results: the proportion of individuals who died from diseases that indicate palliative care needs at the end of life ranged from 24.6% to 85.2%.   Keywords: palliative care; estimating population; chronic non-communicable diseases; cancer; health planning

Identificação de Problemas e Propostas para Melhoria

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Knowledge Translation and contemporary challenges in the health field: a scope review

A implementação das melhores evidências científicas nos serviços de saúde ainda não ocorre de forma satisfatória. Diante dessa problemática, o objetivo deste estudo foi investigar os desafios da Tradução do Conhecimento (TC) na área da saúde na atualidade. A metodologia desta revisão foi desenvolvida de acordo com os propósitos da revisão de escopo. Para tanto, as palavras-chave ‘translational medical research’ e ‘knowledge translation’ foram consultadas nos bancos de dados de periódicos da PubMed, Scopus e Web of Science. Foram incluídos os estudos publicados a partir do ano de 2008 até abril de 2018. Entre os 1.677 estudos encontrados, 839 artigos eram duplicados, e 818 não atendiam plenamente ao objetivo desta revisão; assim, 20 estudos foram submetidos à apreciação desse escopo. De acordo com as análises dos estudos, o desafio da TC advém de dois fatores: por um lado, a falta de coesão entre a comunidade científica e os tomadores de decisão em saúde; por outro, a inabilidade dos profissionais em traduzir e aplicar novos conhecimentos, além da omissão de apoio e de incentivos das instituições de saúde. Outrossim, esta revisão aborda um corpo significativo de diversos outros aspectos que limitam e/ou dificultam a TC área da saúde.The implementation of the best scientific evidence in health services has not yet occurred in a satisfactory way. Faced with this problem, the objective of this study was to investigate today’s challenges of Knowledge Translation in the health field. The methodology of this review was developed according to the requirements of the scope review. Therefore, the keywords ‘translational medical research’ and ‘knowledge translation’ were consulted in the databases of PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science journals. Studies published from 2008 to April 2018 were included. Among the 1,677 studies found, 839 articles were duplicated and 818 did not fully meet the objective of this review, therefore, 20 studies were submitted to review and critical appraisal. According to the analysis of the studies, the challenge of Knowledge Translation comes from two factors: on the one hand, the lack of cohesion between the scientific community and health decision makers and, on the other hand, the inability of professionals to translate and apply new knowledge, in addition to the lack of support and incentives from health institutions. Furthermore, this review addresses a significant body of several other aspects that limit and/or hinder the translation of knowledge in the health fiel

Prática baseada na evidência: relato de uma experiência pedagógica

A Prática Baseada em Evidencia (PBE) é uma abordagem em saúde que associa a melhor evidencia científica com a experiencia clínica e a escolha do paciente para uma tomada de decisão clínica efetiva. Foi desenvolvida com o intuito de diminuir o erro na assistência, qualificando, assim, o trabalho em saúde (Sackett et al., 2003). Neste contexto, é primordial que os estudantes, enquanto futuros profissionais de saúde, exercitem a PBE durante sua formação académica. Este trabalho tem por objetivo apresentar um exemplo de PBE desenvolvida com estudantes de medicina e enfermagem de uma Universidade Pública e outra Comunitária, ambas localizadas no sul do Brasil.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Relevância e utilidade avaliadas por profissionais de saúde

Introduction: After conducting a systematic review of quality indicators for assessing HIV/AIDS clinical care, we aimed to assess the clinical relevance and practice utility of those indicators from the point of view of HIV/AIDS physician experts. Material and Methods: This is an observational, cross-sectional study, in which we selected, by convenience, physicians who work in an Infectious Disease Department of a central hospital to complete two questionnaires with a core set of indicators to establish the most relevant and useful indicators for assessment of the clinical HIV/AIDS care. A Likert scale was used to rank the indicators. Results: Eleven of thirteen physicians filled two questionnaires. From the initial list of 53 quality indicators, 21 were identified as the most relevant and useful in HIV/AIDS clinical care. The internal consistency for clinical relevance in each indicators domain was for clinical signs and symptoms (p = 0.971), for therapy (p = 0.900), for prognosis (p = 0.820) and diagnosis (p = 0.733) and for practice utility were diagnosis (p = 0.934), clinical signs (p = 0.964), laboratory examinations (p = 0.947), therapy (p = 0.583) and prognosis (p = 0.368). Discussion: In the process of assessing the clinical relevance and practice utility of HIV/AIDS quality care indicators, it was found that the majority of physicians agreed that diagnosis and clinical symptoms and signs indicators domains are the most important for assessing the quality of care for HIV/AIDS patients. Conclusion: This instrument should be considered as a diagnostic tool, allowing hospital administrators to identify if HIV/AIDS care is properly delivered or needs improvement.publishe

Are General Physicians Prepared for Struggling Skin Cancer?—Cross-Sectional Study

The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of general practitioners (GP) in selecting higher risk population for skin cancer screening. GP’s training was organized to examine a specific high risk population consisting mainly of fisherman and farmers in a city of North of Portugal. Health care professionals of local health units training was performed by two dermatologists 2 months before the screening. During 8 weeks GPs selected patients with skin cancer suspicious lesions and/or risk factors consecutively from their regular consultation. These selected patients were referred to a dermatologist evaluation. Six dermatologists using manual dermoscopy examined the previously selected patients. One hundred eight patients have been screened, 35 % of which were males and 65 % females, with a mean age of 54 years. Full skin evaluation by dermatologists revealed 31 % of actinic keratosis, 5 % of leucoplasia, 7 % of basal cell carcinoma, 8 % of squamous cell carcinoma, and 1 % of melanoma. Cohen’s kappa coefficient between dermatologist and GPs was 0.18. Selective screening with collaboration of GPs allowed the detection of more cases of skin cancer than the nonselective screenings in the literature. Although the diagnostic agreement between GPs and dermatologists was not good, our results indicate that active collaboration of dermatologists with primary health care units for selective skin cancer screening, including post graduated courses on their own health units, can be a way of optimizing early detection of cutaneous pre malignant and malignant lesions.SCOPUS: ar.jinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe