Humanização nos serviços de saúde: perspectivas de profissionais atuantes na atenção primária à saúde / Humanization in health services: perspectives of professionals working in primary health care / Humanización en los servicios de salud: perspectivas de los profesionales que trabajan en atención primaria

Investigar o conhecimento dos profissionais que atuam na atenção básica sobre o atendimento humanizado. Estudo descritivo, exploratório, de abordagem qualitativa, realizado com 16 profissionais que atuam em unidade básica de saúde, realizado no mês de abril de 2022. Os dados foram coletados por meio de entrevista gravada, norteada pela questão: "Fale-me sobre o que você, senhor/senhora, sabe sobre humanização na assistência ao paciente. Após a conclusão das entrevistas, as mesmas foram transcritas, sendo submetidas à técnica de análise de conteúdo proposta por Bardin. Da análise das entrevistas, emergiram três categorias: Impactos da realização do cuidado humanizado e de sua ausência, na qual nota-se por meio dos discursos, que o cuidado à saúde do ser humano, quando prestado de modo humanizado é considerado como maneira mais eficaz para se ter um atendimento adequado e ético nos serviços de atenção à saúde. Estratégias para fortalecer a prática da assistência humanizada, pela qual verificou-se que a assistência à saúde realizada ao ser humano de uma forma humanizada, se torna muito mais forte e eficaz. Atividade laboral como sinônimo de cuidado empático, a qual evidenciou que é preciso continuar conscientizando a todos esses profissionais, que atuam nessa área, sobre esse cuidado humanizado, ou seja, o cuidado com empatia. Assim, concluiu-se que os profissionais apresentaram conhecimento básico sobre humanização no atendimento, sobre as consequências ao paciente caso ela não ocorra e como implementá-la, com constância, em suas atividades laborais, na atenção primária à saúde.

To investigate the knowledge of professionals working in primary care about humanized care. Descriptive, exploratory study, with a qualitative approach, carried out with 16 professionals who work in a basic health unit, carried out in April 2022. Data were collected through a recorded interview, guided by the question: "Tell me about what you, sir/madam, know about humanization in patient care. After completing the interviews, they were transcribed and submitted to the content analysis technique proposed by Bardin. From the analysis of the interviews, three categories emerged: Impacts of carrying out humanized care and its absence, in which it is noted through the speeches that human health care, when provided in a humanized way, is considered the most effective way to have adequate and ethical care in health care services. Strategies to strengthen the practice of humanized care, through which it was found that health care provided to human beings in a humanized way becomes much stronger and more effective. Work activity as a synonym for empathic care, which showed that it is necessary to continue making all these professionals, who work in this area, aware of this humanized care, that is, care with empathy. Thus, it was concluded that the professionals presented basic knowledge about humanization in care, about the consequences for the patient if it does not occur and how to implement it consistently in their work activities, in primary health care.

Investigar el conocimiento de los profesionales que trabajan en atención primaria sobre la atención humanizada. Estudio descriptivo, exploratorio, de enfoque cualitativo, realizado con 16 profesionales que trabajan en la unidad básica de salud, realizado en abril de 2022. Los datos se recogieron mediante una entrevista grabada, guiada por la pregunta: "Háblame de lo que sabes sobre la humanización en la atención al paciente". Una vez finalizadas las entrevistas, se transcribieron y se sometieron a la técnica de análisis de contenido propuesta por Bardin. Del análisis de las entrevistas surgieron tres categorías: Impactos de la implementación de la atención humanizada y su ausencia, en la que se observa a través de los discursos, que la atención a la salud del ser humano, cuando se brinda de manera humanizada, se considera la forma más efectiva de tener una atención adecuada y ética en los servicios de salud. Estrategias para fortalecer la práctica de la atención humanizada, mediante las cuales se verificó que la atención a la salud brindada al ser humano de manera humanizada, se hace mucho más fuerte y efectiva. La actividad laboral como sinónimo de atención empática, lo que demostró que es necesario seguir concienciando a todos estos profesionales que trabajan en este ámbito sobre la atención humanizada, es decir, la atención con empatía. Así, se concluyó que los profesionales tenían conocimientos básicos sobre la humanización en la atención sanitaria, sobre las consecuencias para el paciente si ésta no se produce y sobre cómo implementarla con constancia en su actividad laboral en la atención primaria.

Association between moral distress and supporting elements of moral deliberation in nurses / Associação entre distresse moral e elementos apoiadores da deliberação moral em enfermeiros / Asociación entre distrés moral y elementos de apoyo de la deliberación moral en enfermeros

Objective: to identify the association between moral distress and the supporting elements of moral deliberation in Brazilian nurses. Method: a cross-sectional study conducted with Brazilian nurses working in health services at different complexity levels. The research protocol consisted of the Brazilian Scale of Moral Distress in Nurses, a sociodemographic and labor questionnaire, and a list of bases and ethical elements used for moral deliberation. For analysis, descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and Poisson regression were used. Results: 1,226 nurses took part in the study. The 12 elements associated with the moral deliberation process were classified as important for nurses' actions, especially the professional experience acquired, code of ethics/law of professional practice, and ethical and bioethical principles. The relationship of moral distress showed higher prevalence in the Beliefs, culture and values of the patient, Beliefs and personal values, and Intuition and Subjectivity elements. Conclusion: the results showed a balance between the subjective criteria of professional experience and the objective ones of deontology for moral deliberation.(AU)

Objetivo: identificar a associação entre o distresse moral e os elementos apoiadores da deliberação moral em enfermeiros brasileiros. Método: estudo transversal realizado com enfermeiros brasileiros atuantes em serviços de saúde de diferentes níveis de complexidade. O protocolo de pesquisa constituiu-se da Escala Brasileira de Distresse Moral em Enfermeiros, questionário sociodemográfico e laboral, e uma lista de bases e elementos éticos utilizados para deliberação moral. Para análise empregou-se estatística descritiva, teste do qui-quadrado e regressão de Poisson. Resultados: participaram do estudo 1.226 enfermeiros. Os 12 elementos associados ao processo de deliberação moral foram classificados com importância para atuação dos enfermeiros, destacando-se a experiência profissional adquirida, Código de Ética/Lei do Exercício profissional, e, princípios éticos e bioéticos. A relação do distresse moral evidenciou maiores prevalências nos elementos Crenças, cultura e valores do paciente, Crenças e valores pessoais e, Intuição e Subjetividade. Conclusão: os resultados apontaram um equilíbrio entre critérios subjetivos da experiência profissional e objetivos da deontologia para a deliberação moral.(AU)

Objetivo: identificar la asociación entre el distrés moral y los elementos de apoyo de la deliberación moral en los enfermeros brasileñas. Método: estudio transversal realizado con enfermeros brasileños que trabajan en servicios de salud de diferentes niveles de complejidad. El protocolo de investigación consistió en la Escala Brasileña de Distrés Moral en Enfermeros, un cuestionario sociodemográfico y laboral, y una lista de bases y elementos éticos utilizados para la deliberación moral. Para el análisis, se utilizó estadística descriptiva, prueba de chi-cuadrado y regresión de Poisson. Resultados: 1.226 enfermeros participaron en el estudio. Los 12 elementos asociados con el proceso de deliberación moral se clasificaron como importantes para el desempeño de los enfermeros, destacando la experiencia profesional adquirida, el Código de Ética/Derecho de Práctica Profesional y los principios éticos y bioéticos. La relación de distrés moral mostró una mayor prevalencia en los elementos Creencias, cultura y valores del paciente, Creencias y valores personales y, Intuición y Subjetividad. Conclusión: los resultados mostraron un equilibrio entre los criterios subjetivos de la experiencia profesional y los objetivos de ética para la deliberación moral.(AU)

Developing clinical ethics support for an Australian Health Service: A survey of clinician's experiences and views.

BACKGROUND: International developments suggest that providing clinical ethics services to help clinicians negotiate ethical issues that arise in clinical practice is beneficial and reflects best practice in promoting high ethical standards and patient-centered care. The aim of this study was to explore the needs and experiences of clinical staff members to inform the development of future clinical ethics support. METHODS: Health professionals at a large regional health service completed an online survey containing questions about the frequency of ethical and legal issues encountered in clinical practice, the type of situations that gave rise to the ethical and/or legal uncertainty or concern, how clinicians currently address these issues, and what support would be welcome. RESULTS: The survey was completed by 369 staff members, including 61% with more than 10 years in the profession and 51% in nursing/midwifery. Two-thirds (66%) indicated they often considered ethical implications of their clinical decisions, and half (49%) often considered the legal implications. More than half (58%) were often/occasionally concerned about the ethically right thing to do. Patient requests for borderline treatment (47%), staff disagreements about patient care (48%), and patients declining recommended treatment (54%) were the most frequent reasons given for ethical or legal uncertainty. Sixty-nine percent of respondents indicated that the way their department addressed ethical issues could be improved and 85% agreed that there is a need for more discussion on ethical issues. The majority (82%) of respondents had encountered ethically challenging clinical situations where additional support would have helped. Common approaches to issues were discussion with colleagues/supervisor (91.1%), discussion at handover/group forums (50.8%), and consultation with guidelines/protocols (60.9%). CONCLUSIONS: A majority of clinical staff members surveyed have encountered ethically/legally challenging cases daily for which they have often sought additional advice. This study indicates that many clinical staff members would welcome some form of additional clinical ethics support including advice and education.

The right to exit and skilled labour emigration: Ethical considerations for compulsory health service programmes.

Compulsory (health) service contracts have recently received considerable attention in the normative literature. The service contracts are considered and offered as a permissible and liberal alternative to emigration restrictions if individuals relinquish their right to exit via contract in exchange for the state-funded tertiary education. To that end, the recent normative literature on the service programmes has particularly focused on discussing the circumstances or conditions in which the contracts should be signed, so that they are morally binding on the part of the skilled workers. However, little attention is devoted to the relevance of the right to exit for the debate on compulsory service programmes. In this paper, I argue that even if the service contracts are voluntary, and thus the would-be medical students voluntarily relinquish their right to exit, the reasons behind the right should be taken into account for the contracts to be morally valid. A clear understanding of the right to exit is a must in order not to breach its basic components and for the service contracts to be morally binding. To that end, I provide two accounts of the reasons to value the right to exit by presenting Patti Lenard's discussion of the right to exit and by reconstructing James Griffin's account of human rights. I conclude by offering brief ethical considerations for compulsory health service programmes grounded in the reasons to value the right to exit.

Julio Aristegui Villamil: el médico de los pobres / Julio Aristegui Villamil: the Physician of the Poor

Julio Miguel Aristegui Villamil se gradúa de Doctor en Medicina en la Universidad de La Habana en 1929 y regresa a Cárdenas, su ciudad natal, a ejercer su profesión. Sus ideas progresistas lo afilian a la Izquierda Médica, dentro de la Federación Médica de Cuba. Por el ejercicio desinteresado de su profesión la población le llega a nombrar "el médico de los pobres" (AU).

Julio Miguel Aristegui Villamil graduated as doctor in Medicine in the University of Havana in 1929 and came back to Cardenas, his home city, to practice his profession. His progressive ideas led him to enroll in the Izquierdad Médica (Medical Left translated in English), a group inside the Medical Federation of Cuba. Because of the selfless practice of his profession, the people began to call him "the doctor of the poors" (AU).

Some thoughts about the terms "centre" and "inside," in relation to the concept of person-centredness.

BACKGROUND: In everyday practice, we do not pay much attention to the words we use. So we do not usually become aware of an ontological difference between the levels of so-called objects focused upon and person-centredness. To elucidate this fundamental difference, we contrast here person-centred medicine (PCM) and a corresponding use of a polycentric grid approach (PCG approach) with the conventional impersonal, objectifying approach. The latter is typically depicted in orthogonal grids, such as charts and lists. This conventional way may be called the Cartesian orthogonal grid approach, or simply Cartesian approach. RESULTS: A conceptual framework corresponding to PCM is proposed. The PCG approach issues centricity in a formal way and provides a polycentric arrangement of interacting centres. The topic of polycentricity is discussed by the later Nobel Prize-winner Elinor Ostrom and her husband Victor, concerning management of common goods. The corresponding concept and use of a polycentric grid allow depicting uniqueness and relatedness of interacting centres better than the conventional Cartesian orthogonal grids. The PCG approach outlined here corresponds to the use of different graphic and cartographic procedures, such as the glyph plot. This unconventional form of representation is seen as beneficial in PCM. Practical exercises are developed to enhance awareness of centricity in everyday health care settings. The steps suggested are based on imagination of common tools, such as used in playing darts. Following the practical application, the theoretical background is outlined. It has been published in an extended form and hence can be discussed in a more focused way. CONCLUSIONS: Use of the PCG approach enhances experience and enactment of personhood. It supports PCM in everyday practice. On a theoretical level, the PCG approach has ontological primacy compared with the conventional Cartesian approach. To refer to physical empiric, the decontextualized Cartesian concept needs to be embedded in the empiric polycentric one.

The Ethics of Health Care Delivery in a Pediatric Malaria Vaccine Trial: The Perspectives of Stakeholders From Ghana and Tanzania.

This study explores ethical issues raised in providing medical care to participants and communities of low-resource settings involved in a Phase II/III pediatric malaria vaccine trial (PMVT). We conducted 52 key informant interviews with major stakeholders of an international multi-center PMVT (GSK/PATH-MVI RTS,S) (NCT00866619) in Ghana and Tanzania. Based on their stakeholder experiences, the responses fell into three main themes: (a) undue inducement, (b) community disparities, and (c) broad therapeutic misconceptions. The study identified the critical ethical aspects, from the perspectives of stakeholders, of delivering health care during a PMVT. The study showed that integrating research into health care services needs to be addressed in a manner that upholds the favorable risk-benefit ratio of research and attends to the health needs of local populations. The implementation of research should aim to improve local standards of care through building a collaborative agenda with local institutions and systems of health.

Ethical Challenges for Patient Access to Physical Therapy: Views of Staff Members from Three Publicly-Funded Outpatient Physical Therapy Departments.

Demographic change and changing population needs are important drivers of increased demand for rehabilitation. These developments place significant stress on access to physical therapy services, as current resources are insufficient to meet the growing demand. This situation presents ethical challenges for physical therapists and others involved in managing wait lists and prioritizing access to services. The purpose of this study is to explore how outpatient physical therapy department (OPD) staff experience ethical issues relating to access to physical therapy services. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 13 participants who were staff at three publicly-funded OPDs in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Using interpretive description methodology, we developed four themes related to access to physical therapy services: 1) negotiating access to physical therapy services; 2) navigating a complex system with outside influences and constraints, such as professional regulation and third-party payers; 3) managing wait lists responsibly; and 4) striving to be a good professional in a non-ideal world. Across the four themes, two main sources of tension that influence the staff were identified in relation to the experience of wait list management: responsibility and power. This study highlights how difficult it is for OPD staff to balance competing interests and values, and to respond to outside influences, when making resource allocation decisions. Until resource limitations are addressed, wait lists may be an unavoidable feature of many OPDs in the Canadian public health care system. Improving fairness in the access to and distribution of services is thus important in ensuring that professionals are able to treat patients based on their clinical needs, and in a timely fashion.

Neuroethics and Disorders of Consciousness: Discerning Brain States in Clinical Practice and Research.

Decisions about end-of-life care and participation in clinical research for patients with disorders of consciousness begin with diagnostic discernment. Accurately distinguishing between brain states clarifies clinicians' ethical obligations and responsibilities. Central to this effort is the obligation to provide neuropalliative care for patients in the minimally conscious state who can perceive pain and to restore functional communication through neuroprosthetics, drugs, and rehabilitation to patients with intact but underactivated neural networks. Efforts to bring scientific advances to patients with disorders of consciousness are reviewed, including the investigational use of deep brain stimulation in patients in the minimally conscious state. These efforts help to affirm the civil rights of a population long on the margins.

HIV care and treatment experiences among female sex workers living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa: A systematic review.

Female sex workers (FSW) living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa have poor engagement to HIV care and treatment. Understanding the HIV care and treatment engagement experiences of FSW has important implications for interventions to enhance care and treatment outcomes. We conducted a systematic review to examine the HIV care experiences and determinants of linkage and retention in care, antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation, and ART adherence and viral suppression among FSW living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa. The databases PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, SCOPUS, CINAHL, Global Health, Psycinfo, Sociological Abstracts, and Popline were searched for variations of search terms related to sex work and HIV care and treatment among sub-Saharan African populations. Ten peer-reviewed articles published between January 2000 and August 2015 met inclusion criteria and were included in this review. Despite expanded ART access, FSW in sub-Saharan Africa have sub-optimal HIV care and treatment engagement outcomes. Stigma, discrimination, poor nutrition, food insecurity, and substance use were commonly reported and associated with poor linkage to care, retention in care, and ART initiation. Included studies suggest that interventions with FSW should focus on multilevel barriers to engagement in HIV care and treatment and explore the involvement of social support from intimate male partners. Our results emphasise several critical points of intervention for FSW living with HIV, which are urgently needed to enhance linkage to HIV care, retention in care, and treatment initiation, particularly where the HIV prevalence among FSW is greatest.

The Norwegian national project for ethics support in community health and care services.

BACKGROUND: Internationally, clinical ethics support has yet to be implemented systematically in community health and care services. A large-scale Norwegian project (2007-2015) attempted to increase ethical competence in community services through facilitating the implementation of ethics support activities in 241 Norwegian municipalities. The article describes the ethics project and the ethics activities that ensued. METHODS: The article first gives an account of the Norwegian ethics project. Then the results of two online questionnaires are reported, characterizing the scope, activities and organization of the ethics activities in the Norwegian municipalities and the ethical topics addressed. RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-seven municipal contact persons answered the first survey (55 % response rate), whereas 217 ethics facilitators from 48 municipalities responded to the second (33 % response rate). The Norwegian ethics project is vast in scope, yet has focused on some institutions and professions (e.g., nursing homes, home-based care; nurses, nurses' aides, unskilled workers) whilst seldom reaching others (e.g., child and adolescent health care; physicians). Patients and next of kin were very seldom involved. Through the ethics project employees discussed many important ethical challenges, in particular related to patient autonomy, competence to consent, and cooperation with next of kin. The "ethics reflection group" was the most common venue for ethics deliberation. CONCLUSIONS: The Norwegian project is the first of its kind and scope, and other countries may learn from the Norwegian experiences. Professionals have discussed central ethical dilemmas, the handling of which arguably makes a difference for patients/users and service quality. The study indicates that large (national) scale implementation of CES structures for the municipal health and care services is complex, yet feasible.

Ebola epidemic of 2014-2015: unresolved ethical issues.

Some ethical aspects of the management of the Ebola epidemic in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone which started in January 2014, have been questionable. First, as regards the prevention of the spread of the virus, the necessary epidemiological investigations on the origin of the infection were not carried out adequately and this did not help to curb the spread of the disease. A disparity has been observed between the western and African countries' access to the treatment of patients; this infringes on the principle of equality. This paper also focuses on how the Global Public Goods for Health principle was not fully respected in the management of the epidemic.

[Ethics in clinical practice and in health care]. / L'etica nella pratica clinica e nell'assistenza sanitaria.

The clinical ethics is the identification, analysis and solution of moral problems that can arise during the care of a patient. Given that when dealing with ethical issues in health care some risks will be encountered (talking about ethics in general, or as a problem overlapped with others in this area, or by delegation to legislative determinations) in the text certain important aspects of the topic are examined. First of all ethics as human quality of the relationship between people for the common good, especially in health services where there are serious problems like the life and the health. It is also necessary a "humanizing relationship" between those who work in these services in order to achieve quality and efficiency in this business. It is important a proper training of health professionals, especially doctors, so that they can identify the real needs and means of intervention. It is also important that scientific research must respect fundamental ethical assumptions. In conclusion, ethics in health care is not a simple matter of "cookbook" rules, but involves the responsibility and consciousness of individual operators.

Blurring the boundaries between public and private health care services as an alternative explanation for the emergence of black medicine: the Israeli case.

Black medicine represents the most problematic configuration of informal payments for health care. According to the accepted economic explanations, we would not expect to find black medicine in a system with a developed private service. Using Israel as a case study, we suggest an alternative yet a complimentary explanation for the emergence of black medicine in public health care systems - even though citizens do have the formal option to use private channels. We claim that when regulation is weak and political culture is based on 'do it yourself' strategies, which meant to solve immediate problems, blurring the boundaries between public and private health care services may only reduce public trust and in turn, contribute to the emergence of black medicine. We used a combined quantitative and qualitative methodology to support our claim. Statistical analysis of the results suggested that the only variable significantly associated with the use of black medicine was trust in the health care system. The higher the respondents' level of trust in the health care system, the lower the rate of the use of black medicine. Qualitatively, interviewee emphasized the relation between the blurred boundaries between public and private health care and the use of black medicine.