Health Management of an HIV Testing and Counseling Center: Nursing Contributions

OBJECTIVES

to analyze the role of nursing in the establishment of an HIV/AIDS Testing and Counseling Center in a Brazilian municipality.

METHODS

a historical study utilizing primary sources, including documents and oral accounts, involving a total of ten participants. The study encompasses the years 1997 and 1998. The research took place at the Testing and Counseling Center in São João de Meriti. Data was collected from March to May 2022.

RESULTS

nursing made significant contributions through the development of training initiatives led by nurses, who were also responsible for individual and group counseling, as well as HIV testing requests.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

nursing played a crucial role in the center and in the management of Sexually Transmitted Infections, being involved in all stages of treatment in accordance with current public health policy.

[Evaluation of the implementation of the Care Network for People with Disabilities in the Brazilian Unified National Health System: a multiple case study]

The Care Network for People with Disabilities (RCPCD) was implemented in 2012 as a consequence of the actions of the Viver sem Limite (Living without Limits) plan and has been the research object of recent studies. However, no published studies address the degree of implementation of this network. This study aimed to evaluate the degree of implementation of the RCPCD in eight states in the five regions of Brazil. This multiple case study performed evaluative research of the degree of implementation of the RCPCD in the states of Amazonas, Bahia, Espírito Santo, Mato Grosso do Sul, Minas Gerais, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Sul, and São Paulo. A logical model of the policy and a measurement matrix were developed. The degree of implementation of seven states was moderate, but Amazonas had an incipient degree of implementation. The evaluation of each stage of the process showed important differences, as the regional diagnosis and network adhesion stages presented moderate to advanced degrees of implementation in most states. In the service contracting stage, no state had an advanced degree of implementation, and the stage of follow-up and monitoring of the RCPCD was not even reached. The measurement matrix helps evaluate the degree of implementation of the RCPCD, and, by recognizing its results, the state steering groups and technical area recommend its use. Actions to improve this implementation, such as strengthening regionalization, establishing regional steering groups, ensuring contracting mechanisms, and defining criteria for certification of the care points, are necessary.

Telessaúde no consumo e comportamento alimentar em adultos: uma revisão rápida de revisões sistemáticas

Objetivo.

Sintetizar as evidências sobre os efeitos de intervenções de telessaúde oferecidas por meio de aplicativos de celular e de mensagens de texto no comportamento de adultos com vistas à alimentação saudável.

Métodos.

Foi realizada uma revisão rápida por meio de buscas em nove bases eletrônicas da literatura para identificar revisões sistemáticas publicadas em inglês, português e espanhol que avaliassem estratégias de telessaúde comparadas a atendimento presencial para melhoria da alimentação na população adulta (18 a 59 anos). As buscas foram realizadas em novembro de 2020 e atualizadas em abril de 2022. As revisões sistemáticas incluídas foram avaliadas quanto à qualidade metodológica com a ferramenta AMSTAR 2.

Resultados.

Cinco revisões sistemáticas foram incluídas, sendo uma com avaliação de confiança moderada e as demais com confiança criticamente baixa. Verificou-se uma escassez de estudos comparando o uso de estratégias de telessaúde com o atendimento presencial para a promoção da alimentação saudável em adultos. Os resultados mais consistentes referem-se ao aumento no consumo de frutas e vegetais com o uso de aplicativo ou mensagens de texto, além de melhoria do padrão alimentar de pessoas com diabetes ou intolerância à glicose com o uso de mensagens de texto.

Conclusão.

A maioria das análises de intervenções utilizando aplicativos de celular ou mensagens de texto mostrou efeitos positivos nos desfechos de alimentação saudável. No entanto, esses achados se referem aos poucos ensaios clínicos com amostras pequenas de participantes incluídos nas revisões sistemáticas da presente revisão rápida, a maioria de baixa qualidade metodológica. Conclui-se que há uma lacuna no conhecimento, sendo importante a realização de estudos metodologicamente mais robustos.

La voluntad política y la gobernanza: claves en la implementación de HEARTS en el Perú

El objetivo del artículo es describir cómo la gobernanza y la voluntad política han influido en la implementación de la Iniciativa HEARTS para la prevención y el control de la hipertensión arterial en el sistema de salud de Perú.

Se describe el proceso de gobernanza y se realiza un análisis secundario de datos que compara los niveles basales al inicio de la fase 1 de HEARTS con los primeros seis meses de seguimiento en 34 establecimientos de salud.

Se realizó la planificación y organización de la implementación de HEARTS desde el nivel nacional a través de la Dirección de Enfermedades No Transmisibles, contando con la voluntad política de la Alta dirección del Ministerio de Salud y el acompañamiento técnico de la Organización Panamericana de la Salud. La gobernanza se estructuró en 3 niveles: nacional, regional y local; la implementación se apoyó en actores claves de la academia, las sociedades científicas y las Direcciones Regionales de Salud y de las Redes Integrales.

Los resultados encontrados tras los primeros meses de seguimiento evidenciaron un incremento de la cobertura y el control de la hipertensión arterial en la mayoría de los establecimientos intervenidos. El análisis de los factores claves relacionados con la voluntad política y la gobernanza en la implementación de la Iniciativa HEARTS para la prevención y el control de la hipertensión arterial demostró que las funciones de la Alta dirección, para alinear las políticas públicas y priorizar las enfermedades no trasmisibles, en coordinación estrecha y permanente entre los formuladores de política y el Ministro de Salud, tuvieron un efecto positivo en la implementación de la Iniciativa HEARTS en el Perú.

Country-specific lockdown measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on tuberculosis control: a global study

The objective of this study was to describe country-specific lockdown measures and tuberculosis indicators collected during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Data on lockdown/social restrictions (compulsory face masks and hand hygiene; international and local travel restrictions; restrictions to family visits, and school closures) were collected from 24 countries spanning five continents. The majority of the countries implemented multiple lockdowns with partial or full reopening. There was an overall decrease in active tuberculosis, drug-resistant tuberculosis, and latent tuberculosis cases. Although national lockdowns were effective in containing COVID-19 cases, several indicators of tuberculosis were affected during the pandemic.

Our future is global: nursing leadership and global health

Global health matters to every nurse everywhere. In this article we outline why. We highlight some important health issues confronting the world today; explore how these issues are being tackled; and consider the implications for nursing. We describe how nurses are making a difference in the challenging contexts, range and complexity of nursing work round the globe, and we conclude with a call to action. Nurses can influence, and become, policy-makers and politicians, and explain to them why the Sustainable Development Goals cannot be reached without strengthening nursing. In this International Year of the Nurse and Midwife, the window of opportunity is open, but it will not stay open for long. Nurses and midwives globally and locally must be ready to jump through it. We ask you to join hands, and join us.

The process of implementation of emergency care units in Brazil

OBJECTIVE

To analyze the process of implementation of emergency care units in Brazil.

METHODS

We have carried out a documentary analysis, with interviews with twenty-four state urgency coordinators and a panel of experts. We have analyzed issues related to policy background and trajectory, players involved in the implementation, expansion process, advances, limits, and implementation difficulties, and state coordination capacity. We have used the theoretical framework of the analysis of the strategic conduct of the Giddens theory of structuration.

RESULTS

Emergency care units have been implemented after 2007, initially in the Southeast region, and 446 emergency care units were present in all Brazilian regions in 2016. Currently, 620 emergency care units are under construction, which indicates expectation of expansion. Federal funding was a strong driver for the implementation. The states have planned their emergency care units, but the existence of direct negotiation between municipalities and the Union has contributed with the significant number of emergency care units that have been built but that do not work. In relation to the urgency network, there is tension with the hospital because of the lack of beds in the country, which generates hospitalizations in the emergency care unit. The management of emergency care units is predominantly municipal, and most of the emergency care units are located outside the capitals and classified as Size III. The main challenges identified were: under-funding and difficulty in recruiting physicians.

CONCLUSIONS

The emergency care unit has the merit of having technological resources and being architecturally differentiated, but it will only succeed within an urgency network. Federal induction has generated contradictory responses, since not all states consider the emergency care unit a priority. The strengthening of the state management has been identified as a challenge for the implementation of the urgency network.

The Evidence-Informed Policy Network (EVIPNet) in Chile: lessons learned from a year of coordinated efforts

Informing the health policymaking process with the best available scientific evidence has become relevant to health systems globally. Knowledge Translation Platforms (KTP), such as the World Health Organization's Evidence Informed Policy Networks (EVIPNet), are a recognized strategy for linking research to action. This report describes the experience of implementing EVIPNet in Chile, from its objectives, organizational structure, strategy, activities, and main outputs, to its evolution over the course of its first year. Lessons learned are also covered. Of the activities initiated by EVIPNet-Chile, the Rapid Response Service proved to be a good starting point for engaging policymakers. Capacity building workshops and policy dialogues with relevant stakeholders were also successful. Additionally, EVIPNet-Chile developed a model for engaging academic institutions in policymaking through a network focused on preparing evidence briefs. A number of challenges, such as changing methods for producing rapid evidence syntheses, were also identified. This KTP implementation model located in a Ministry of Health could contribute to the development of similar initiatives in other health systems.

Health technology assessment: the process in Brazil

Objectives.

To describe, analyze, and compare the opinions of decisionmakers involved in the health technology assessment (HTA) process in Brazil in 2011.

Methods.

A cross-sectional study was conducted using a structured questionnaire to evaluate the opinions of a convenience sample of health care professionals from both the public and private health care systems (HCS). The survey collected demographic data for each respondent along with their input on national regulations. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, including chi-square tests to compare groups.

Results.

Of the 200 completed questionnaires, 65% of the respondents were 31–50 years of age; 36% were HCS managers, 49.3% from the public and 50.7% from the private system. The majority of respondents (85%) considered the time permitted for submission of new technology to be inadequate; 88% also stated that the composition of the evaluation committee needed improvement. Respondents from the private health system more frequently stated that submission times were inappropriate (P = 0.019) and that the deadline for a decision by the committee should be defined (P = 0.021), with a maximum of no more than 180 days / 6 months (P < 0.001).

Conclusions.

Respondents indicated that the HTA process should be improved to meet their expectations. Given that new legislation has been enacted to continuously accept submissions, to make decisions within 180 days, and to expand the committee to represent more stakeholders, most of the respondents concerns have been addressed. This study is valuable as an historical analysis of HTA process improvement. Further surveys are needed to track the new HTA process, its application, and its contribution to health care needs in Brazil.

Quantitative and qualitative analysis on the legislative production relating to healthcare in passage in the National Congress in the years 2007 and 2008

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES

The Federal Constitution of 1988 allowed the National Congress to contribute towards formulation of new public policies. The objective of this study was to analyze the legislative production that dealt with health issues that was in passage in the National Congress between January 2007 and December 2008.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Descriptive-exploratory cross-sectional study with quantitative and qualitative approaches, conducted in a federal university.

METHODS

The analysis material for the study comprised 144 draft bills that were classified and subsequently randomly evaluated by 155 professionals working within the healthcare system.

RESULTS

The analysis showed that the Workers' Party (PT) and Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) were the parties that presented the largest proportions of the draft bills (12.5% and 11.1%); 25.4% of the draft bills were presented by congress members with academic qualifications within healthcare and only 1.4% of the draft bills became transformed into legal regulations. In questionnaire responses, 51.5% of the evaluators did not consider the draft bills to be viable, 40.6% did not consider them to be relevant and 52.5% said that if the draft bills were not approved it would not be harmful to Brazilian society.

CONCLUSION

In analyzing the data from this study, it was noted that the legislative production relating to healthcare was low and the transformation rate from draft bill to legal regulation was negligible. The results from the evaluation showed that the quality of legislative production was impaired.

Clinical investigations for SUS, the Brazilian public health system

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE

Scientific and technological development is crucial for advancing the Brazilian health system and for promoting quality of life. The way in which the Brazilian Ministry of Health has supported clinical research to provide autonomy, self-sufficiency, competitiveness and innovation for the healthcare industrial production complex, in accordance with the National Policy on Science, Technology and Innovation in Healthcare, was analyzed.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Descriptive investigation, based on secondary data, conducted at the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Health.

METHODS

The Ministry of Health's research management database, PesquisaSaúde, was analyzed from 2002 to 2009, using the key word "clinical research" in the fields "primary sub-agenda" or "secondary sub-agenda". The 368 projects retrieved were sorted into six categories: basic biomedical research, preclinical studies, expanded clinical research, clinical trials, infrastructure support and health technology assessment. From a structured review on "clinical research funding", results from selected countries are presented and discussed.

RESULTS

The amount invested was R$ 140 million. The largest number of projects supported "basic biomedical research", while the highest amounts invested were in "clinical trials" and "infrastructure support". The southeastern region had the greatest proportion of projects and financial resources. In some respects, Brazil is ahead of other BRICS countries (Russia, India, China and South Africa), especially with regard to establishing a National Clinical Research Network.

CONCLUSION

The Ministry of Health ensured investments to encourage clinical research in Brazil and contributed towards promoting cohesion between investigators, health policies and the healthcare industrial production complex.

Ministers of Health: short-term tenure for long-term goals?

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE

Healthcare investments should consider short and long-term demands. The objectives here were to compare the average tenures of ministers of health in Brazil and in another 22 countries and to evaluate the relationship between ministers' tenures and a number of indicators.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Descriptive study conducted at Centro Paulista de Economia da Saúde (CPES).

METHODS

Twenty-two countries with the highest Human Development Indices (HDIs) and Brazil were included. The number of ministers over the past 20 years was investigated through each country's Ministry of Health website. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to compare the number of ministers in each country with that country's indicators. The Mann-Whitney test was used to compare ministers' tenures in Brazil and other countries.

RESULTS

The mean tenure (standard deviation, SD) of Brazilian ministers of health was 15 (12) months, a period that is statistically significantly shorter than the mean tenure of 33 (18) months in the other 22 countries (P < 0.05). There was a moderate and statistically significant positive correlation between the number of ministers and mortality rates for several conditions. The number of ministers also presented moderate and statistically significant negative correlations with per capita total healthcare expenditure (r = -0.567) and with per capita government healthcare expenditure (r = -0.530).

CONCLUSION

On average, ministers of health have extremely short tenures. There is an urgent need to think and plan healthcare systems from a long-term perspective.