Atitudes do enfermeiro face às infecções associadas aos cuidados de saúde

ENQUADRAMENTO: As infecções adquiridas em consequência da prestação de cuidados constitui um problema grave, com morbilidade e mortalidade significativas. Estas infecções são evitáveis em cerca de um terço dos casos, pelo que a capacidade de as prevenir pode constituir um dos indicados de qualidade dos cuidados. É um problema escondido, transversal que nenhuma instituição ou país ainda conseguiu resolver. Em cada ano, centenas de milhares de doentes em todo o mundo são afectados pelas IACS, sendo considerado o evento adverso mais frequente durante a prestação de cuidados, em todo o mundo. OBJECTIVOS: Caracterizar as Atitudes adoptadas pelos Enfermeiros face às IACS; Analisar em que medida as variáveis sócio-profissionais e a formação acerca das IACS influenciam as atitudes do Enfermeiro MÉTODOS: O estudo transversal de natureza observacional assenta numa lógica de análise descritivo – correlaciona e foi realizado numa amostra definida pelo método não probabilístico, de forma acidental, durante um período de tempo, constituída por 142 Enfermeiros prestadores de cuidados na ULS da Guarda. O perfil médio revela enfermeiros do sexo feminino (76,80%), com idade média de 36 anos, a exercer a profissão entre os 10-19 anos (40,80%) com uma média 13,04 anos, licenciados (69,50%), com a categoria profissional de Enfermeiro graduado (50,00%), com horário na instituição de 35h/semana (70,40%), com vínculo à Função pública (61,30%) e sem duplo emprego (77,47%). De forma a caracterizar as atitudes do enfermeiro, utilizou-se um instrumento de colheita de dados constituído por uma caracterização sócio-profissional e formação acerca das IACS, a Escala de Atitudes face às IACS (Barroca, Cruz, Gaspar e Valdemar, 2006) e uma resposta aberta acerca das condições no serviço que favorecem a infecção nosocomial. RESULTADOS: Constatou-se que os enfermeiros adoptam atitudes consideradas adequadas, com uma média de 103 respostas adequadas. Nas variáveis pessoais (sexo e idade) infere-se que não há relação entre o sexo e as atitudes do enfermeiro face às IACS. Das variáveis profissionais dos enfermeiros, apenas o duplo emprego influência as atitudes do enfermeiro face às IACS. Por outro lado inferimos que existe uma relação de dependência entre os enfermeiros com formação acerca das IACS e as atitudes do enfermeiro face às IACS. A idade, o tempo de exercício profissional e o número de horas de formação não se revelam preditoras das atitudes do enfermeiro face às IACS. CONCLUSÕES: As evidências encontradas neste estudo referem que o duplo emprego e a formação dos profissionais acerca das IACS influência as atitudes do enfermeiro face a esta problemática. As soluções para os problemas das IACS baseiam-se em medidas de prevenção e controlo de infecção, que requerem a responsabilização e a mudança de comportamentos por parte dos profissionais de saúde.ABSTRACT FRAMEWORK: Acquired infections as a result of prevision of care remain a serious problem of significant morbidity and mortality. These infections are avoidable by almost a third of the cases thus the preventing capacity could be a quality indication of cares. This is a hidden transversal problem which still has been solved by neither institution nor country. Each year, many hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide are affected by the IACS, it may be viewed as the most frequent adverse event during the prevision of care elsewhere in the world. OBJECTIVES: To characterize the attitude adopted by nurses in the face of IACS; to analyse what extent the socio-professional variables and the formation regarding the IACS influence the nurse´s attitudes. METHODS: The transversal study of the observational nature is based on descriptive analysis defined accidentally not by the provavilistic method– It was made during a certain period of time with a random sample composed of 142 nurses care providers at the ULS in Guarda. The average profile shows nurses of the female sex (76,80%), with average of 36 years of age, practising the profession between 10 to 19 years (40,80%) an average of 13,04 years, graduates (69,50%), with the professional category of graduated nurse (50,00%), with institution's schedule of 35-hour workweek (70,40%), connected with the public service (61,30%) and without double employment (77,47%). In order to characterise the nurse´s attitudes, collection of data was made with an instrument constituted by a socio-professional characterization and formation , the scale of attitudes regarding the IACS (Barroca, Cruz, Gaspar e Valdemar, 2006) as well as an open answer regarding the conditions of the service which can lead to nosocomial infection. RESULTS: It was found the nurses adopt attitudes considered adequate, with an average of 103 adequate answers. In relation to the personal variables (gender and age) we can conclude that there is no relation between the gender of the nurse and his attitude towards the IACS. Relative to the nurse professional variables, only double employment influences his attitude towards the IACS. In other hand, we can conclude that there is a dependent relation between nurses with preparation on IACS and is attitude towards the IACS. Age, professional experience and number of formation hours cannot predict the conduct from nurses towards IACS. CONCLUSIONS: We found evidences in this study that double employment and formation from the professional about the IACS, influences his conduct towards this problem. Solutions to the IACS problem reside in prevention and control of infection which requires responsibility and change in the health professional’s behaviour

Analysis of self-assembly of S-layer protein slp-B53 from Lysinibacillus sphaericus

The formation of stable and functional surface layers (S-layers) via self-assembly of surface-layer proteins on the cell surface is a dynamic and complex process. S-layers facilitate a number of important biological functions, e.g., providing protection and mediating selective exchange of molecules and thereby functioning as molecular sieves. Furthermore, S-layers selectively bind several metal ions including uranium, palladium, gold, and europium, some of them with high affinity. Most current research on surface layers focuses on investigating crystalline arrays of protein subunits in Archaea and bacteria. In this work, several complementary analytical techniques and methods have been applied to examine structure–function relationships and dynamics for assembly of S-layer protein slp-B53 from Lysinibacillus sphaericus: (1) The secondary structure of the S-layer protein was analyzed by circular dichroism spectroscopy; (2) Small-angle X-ray scattering was applied to gain insights into the three-dimensional structure in solution; (3) The interaction with bivalent cations was followed by differential scanning calorimetry; (4) The dynamics and time-dependent assembly of S-layers were followed by applying dynamic light scattering; (5) The two-dimensional structure of the paracrystalline S-layer lattice was examined by atomic force microscopy. The data obtained provide essential structural insights into the mechanism of S-layer self-assembly, particularly with respect to binding of bivalent cations, i.e., Mg$^{2+}$ and Ca$^{2+}$. Furthermore, the results obtained highlight potential applications of S-layers in the fields of micromaterials and nanobiotechnology by providing engineered or individual symmetric thin protein layers, e.g., for protective, antimicrobial, or otherwise functionalized surfaces