Assessment methods and therapy adherence scales in hypertensive patients: a literature review

Background: Arterial Hypertension is a chronic disease whose control is directly related to the patient antihypertensive therapy adherence. It is therefore important to know and understand the methods and scales of evaluation of adherence. Thus, the aim of this review is to identify assessment methods and therapy adherence scales in hypertensive patients. Methods and Findings: This study is a literature review of published studies from 1986 to 2015, held in electronic databases Web of Science and PubMed. For this research were selected 22 studies were identi ed that corresponded to inclusion criteria. This review was conducted from February to May 2015. To measure and assess the patient adherence to prescribed treatment, different methods were found, such as direct: biological analysis and adding a marker to ingested medication; and indirect methods: patient diary, questionnaires or structured interviews, drug exemption of registration pharmacy, electronic monitoring and pill counts. Conclusion: The different methods currently available for assessing therapy adherence only provide an estimate of the existing behavior of patient compliance.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Prevalence and risk factors of arterial hypertension: a literature review

Background and aim: The Arterial Hypertension is part of the group of cardiovascular diseases that represent the highest proportion of death causes by diseases thus highlighting the need to evaluate the risk factors that contribute to this clinical situation and its high prevalence. The aim of this review is to assess the prevalence of arterial hypertension and its risk factors. Methods and findings: This study is a literature review of published studies from 2003 to 2015, held in the following databases: Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), Scientific Open Access Repository of Portugal (RCAAP) and online Knowledge Library (B-ON). For this research were selected 14 articles and 3 websites/reports were identified that corresponded to inclusion criteria. The prevalence of arterial hypertension in the reviewed studies ranged from 23.6% to 54.8%. Discussion: It is more prevalent in female gender, with the highest incidence in adults and the elderly, African-native peoples and lower education. Arterial hypertension is positively associated to other diseases and genetic and environmental factors, such as: obesity, high sodium ingestion, sedentary lifestyle, stress, alcohol consumption and smoking. Conclusion: It was observed that the development of several studies are important to contribute to the public health policies and actions, by providing indications to combat the increasing prevalence of Arterial Hypertension and risk factors, in order to better control this disease.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Stress, burnout and coping in health professionals: a literature review

Context: Stress is a phenomenon inherent to life and it becomes inevitable, particularly in a professional context, having consequences on life quality. This is a disorder that affecting several people worldwide, namely health professionals, and is originated by various factors. Objective: The aims of this review article are studying, in the stress and burnout in health professionals in order to clarify the definition, identify the possible causes, related factors and identify the coping strategies. Methods: This review article was performed through data bases such as b-on, PubMed and books. It was used articles in Portuguese, English and Spanish and that corresponde to established descriptors. Results: Stress affects individuals from any age and professional area. When is caused by work complications is called of occupational stress. This phenomenon resultes of the action of an agent stressor that can be physical, social or even psychological. Other phenomenon is Burnout Syndrome, which is characterized by emotional exhaustion, lack of professional accomplishment and depersonalization. To mitigate the effects of stress, there are specific mechanisms of coping. Conclusion: Stress and burnout are quite prevalent phenomena among health professionals. As these professionals have a fundamental role in patient care it is extremely important that they feel well physically and psychologically, as to fulfill its functions well as caregivers. In this way, it becomes important to act in the relationship between the individual and the problem, improving the skills of encouraging to use his social and personal resources to obtain control over the circumstance inducer of stress.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The impact of chronic diseases during pregnancy on the fetus and mother health: a literature review

The fetal malformations are sometimes consequences of certain diseases that a pregnant woman can submit, and can increase the risks in pregnancy and cause problems not only for the fetus as also for the pregnant. Aim: To determine the impact of chronic diseases in the development of the fetus, also evaluating their maternal complications. Methodology: This study refers to a literature review of studies published in the databases Web of Science and PubMed Search. For this research were selected a total of 27 articles, reports and books. This review was carried out from September to December 2015. Results: Asthma is a chronic disease may present variations as to its severity, however, the physician should always be attentive to functional and clinical parameters during pregnancy. In relation to the Arterial Hypertension, this is considered one of the most detrimental effects to the maternal, fetal and neonatal. Conclusion: chronic diseases, in particular asthma and arterial hypertension, reveal a great impact during pregnancy, causing complications at the fetal and maternal level.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A perspectiva dos consumidores portugueses sobre os medicamentos de marca vs medicamentos genéricos

Os medicamentos são considerados a principal “ferramenta” terapêutica para a prevenção, recuperação ou manutenção das condições de saúde pública1. Existem inúmeros medicamentos destinados para o mesmo fim, por este motivo, compete à Indústria Farmacêutica desenvolver alternativas de mercado, suficientemente capazes de competir com os outros medicamentos pré-existentes. Um medicamento genérico é um medicamento com a mesma substância activa, forma farmacêutica, dosagem e a mesma indicação terapêutica que o medicamento original, de marca, que serviu de referência, sendo identificados pela sigla (MG). Os medicamentos genéricos para além da mesma qualidade, têm igual, eficácia, segurança, biodisponibilidade e bioequivalência, mas a um preço inferior ao do medicamento original

Work satisfaction within community pharmacy professionals

Work is a profession, a craft, or an activity in which man produces something central to his life. The job satisfaction is reflected simultaneously on the worker and the functioning of organizations. Workers more satisfied with their work have higher productivity levels, higher subjective well-being and well-being with life in general. Community pharmacy professionals are categorized in three professional categories: pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and technical pharmacy assistants. Work satisfaction was previously associated with gender, age, job category, years of service, remuneration, security concerning the future of the profession, relationships with colleagues and satisfaction with the professional category. The objectives of this study are to evaluate the satisfaction level of community pharmacy professionals and to identify associated factors. These professionals have revealed, in general, a level of moderated satisfaction. There were no significant differences between job satisfaction and gender, age, years of service, professional category and remuneration

Consumo de suplementos vitamínicos em jovens do ensino superior público do Distrito de Bragança

O actual ritmo de vida acelerado e a má alimentação das pessoas, em especial dos estudantes, obriga, muitas vezes, ao uso irracional de suplementos vitamínicos. O presente artigo pretende descrever e analisar os hábitos de consumo de Suplementos Vitamínicos (SV) e os factores que influenciam este consumo, numa amostra de 460 alunos das várias escolas do IPB, extraída de uma população total de 7064 alunos, utilizando um estudo descritivo, transversal, de natureza quantitativa. Os dados foram obtidos através da aplicação de um questionário de auto-preenchimento, anónimo e voluntário, sendo sujeitos a tratamento estatístico através do programa SPSS 17.0 para Windows. A partir dos resultados foi possível concluir que 47,6% dos alunos questionados consome ou já consumiu SV, sendo os mais consumidos Centrum (40,2%), Cerebrum (27,4%) e Magnesium (20,6%), e os menos consumidos Amundsen, Bioelectra, CerealG, Cergumil, Panvitol, Tonosol e Vittol, não assinalados por nenhum dos inquiridos. Relativamente às variáveis em estudo (Género; Idade; Meio de onde provém; Escola; Grau Académico; Curso e Ano em que se encontra), nenhuma delas demostrou ter relação com o consumo de SV

Depressive symptoms and alcohol use among adolescents

Alcohol is the most consumed substance by young people, sometimes it’s associated with depressive symptoms. Objective: Assess the factors associated with alcohol use among 13-year-old teenagers, like depressive symptoms. Methods: Data of a population-based cohort of urban teenagers included cross-sectional information of 919 boys and 1016 girls collected by self-reported questionnaire. Depressive symptoms were evaluated using Beck Depressive Inventory II (BDI). The Mann-Whitney test was used to compare medians. Odds ratio (OR) and multiple linear regression (β) were performed to estimate the magnitude of associations with 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). The final model was adjusted for parents’ education, sports, smoking, have friends who drink and parents’ history of depression. Results: Overall 515(50.0%) girls and 425(44.9%) boys have experimented alcoholic beverages and, 48(4.7%) girls and 62(6.6%) boys have drunk(one drink at least once time per month) at 13-year-old. For both genders, after adjustment, being experimenter was significantly associated with parents’ education, tobacco use and friends who drink. In girls, characteristics that was significantly associated to be drinker were tobacco use OR=6.9(3.1-15.2) and friends who drink OR=6.4(2.7-15.2). In boys, to be drinker was associated with tobacco use OR=5.9(2.7-13.0), friends who drink OR=7.3(3.5-15.4) and cohabiting with people who drink OR=5.1(1.4-17.6). Adolescents who have drunk presented a high score in BDI [median(25p-75p)] in girls[6.01(2.00-10.00)vs.6.38(3.00-11.99),p=0.002)] and in boys[3.00(1.01-6.01)vs.3.99(1.01-6.99),p=0.039]. After adjustment, the association was not significant in girls(β=0.583,95%CI[-0.483;1.648]) in boys(β=0.623,95%CI[-0.170;1.417]). Conclusions: Among 13-year-old adolescents parents’ education, smoking and friends who drink were associated with drinking behaviour. After adjustment, depressive symptoms did not show a significant association with alcohol use

Satisfação dos utentes com o atendimento prestado nas farmácias comunitárias

A satisfação dos utentes é considerada uma medida importante com efeitos nos resultados de cuidados de saúde. Objetivos: Determinar o grau de satisfação dos utentes com o atendimento nas farmácias comunitárias, e verificar se o grau de satisfação é igual, independentemente, da idade e do género do utente. Material e Métodos: Este estudo de caracter transversal, observacional e correlacional teve como base uma amostra não probabilística acidental, constituída por 525 inquiridos. O questionário foi aplicado no período de Outubro de 2012 a Janeiro de 2013 em quatro localidades seleccionadas por conveniência na zona norte de Portugal, foi utilizada a escala “Pharmacy Services Questionnaire” (FSQ) validada para a língua portuguesa, desenvolvida por Larson et al. (2002). Em relação ao género dos inquiridos, verificou-se que 60,62% pertenciam ao sexo feminino e 39,38% eram do sexo masculino. Com idades compreendidas entre os 18 e os 83 anos, com uma média de 41,81 anos (D.P.±16,262, o que permite concluir que a amostra não é homogénea relativamente à idade). Em relação à escolaridade dos inquiridos, 2,9% não possuíam estudos; 16,8% tinham entre 1 a 4 anos de escolaridade; 9,5% possuíam o 2º ciclo; 12,4% possuíam o 3º ciclo; 31,6% concluíram o ensino secundário e 23,2% possuíam habilitações superiores. Resultados: Os indicadores de validade da análise fatorial mostraram um KMO=0,972. Foram identificados duas dimensões, nomeadamente, o atendimento e acompanhamento farmacoterapêutico, que explicavam no conjunto 64,230% da variância total. O Alfa Cronbach total foi de 0,962, o que indica uma fiabilidade da consistência interna muito boa. A contribuição das dimensões para a satisfação global dos utentes foi por ordem de importância, o atendimento (r=0,864; p<0,01) e acompanhamento farmacoterapêutico (r=0,848; p<0,01). O grau de satisfação dos utentes com os serviços das farmácias comunitárias foi o seguinte: reduzido para 5,3%, médio para 39%, bom para 46,1% e muito bom para 9%. Tendo em conta o fator atendimento por género, o feminino registou um grau de satisfação mais elevado, enquanto que, no fator acompanhamento farmacoterapêutico não se verificou qualquer diferença entre géneros. Relativamente à classe etária, verificou-se que são os utentes com idades mais avançadas, que registam um grau de satisfação mais elevado. Discussão e Conclusão: Concluiu-se que, de um modo geral, os utentes se encontram satisfeitos com o atendimento nas farmácias comunitárias, sendo o sexo feminino e os utentes com idades mais avançadas, os que apresentam um grau de satisfação superior. O aspeto a melhorar para o aumento da satisfação dos utentes, relativamente ao acompanhamento farmacoterapêutico, é “O modo como o profissional de farmácia lhe explica os possíveis efeitos secundários”. Em relação ao atendimento o aspeto a melhorar é “O modo como o profissional de farmácia responde às suas perguntas”

Community pharmacy services during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review

Background: As a central part of the healthcare system, the community pharmacies are afflicted by the repercussions of the pandemic. Therefore, they have to adapt their services according to the needs of their communities. Objective: This article presents a systematic review with the aim to identify the additional services that community pharmacies are providing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: The PubMed, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect databases were searched systematically for relevant articles between December 2019 and April 2020, using “Community Pharmacy,” “Services,” “COVID-19,” “Coronavirus,” and “Pandemic” as the keywords. Fifty-nine articles in English, Portuguese, or Spanish were obtained and after applying the filtering criteria, nine of them were selected and included in the study. Results: Community pharmacies should provide pharmaceutical services that are according to the needs of the communities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, changes of these services must be in line with the common goal of preventing the spread of the disease. In addition to the pre-existing services such as medication dispensing and personalized care, community pharmacists must promote other types of services, for example, informing, advising, and educating the community, maintaining a stable supply of pharmaceuticals and health products, and screening of suspected cases. Conclusion: While remaining engaged in the coordinated efforts, community pharmacists should apply innovations in their practices to help prevent the spread of coronavirus.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio