Tool to measure workload of health professionals in Primary Health Care: development and validation. / Instrumento de medida de carga de trabalho dos profissionais de Saúde na Atenção Primária: desenvolvimento e validação.

Objective To develop and validate an instrument that addresses the interventions/activities carried out by the family health team as reference for staff planning. Method Methodological research developed in stages: instrument development, content validation, and pilot test in three units located in the southeastern region of Brazil. Results 39 interventions were validated in a single instrument to measure workload for clinician, dental surgeon, oral health technician/assistant, nurse, nurse assistant, and community health agent. In the pilot test, the instrument contained 100% of the interventions observed and the observers reached 93.7% agreement. Conclusion The proposed instrument is an innovating tool because of its configuration for health team and supports staff planning in primary health care.

[Supervision of Community Health Agents in the Family Health Strategy: the perspective of nurses]. / Supervisão dos Agentes Comunitários de Saúde na Estratégia Saúde da Família: a ótica dos enfermeiros.

OBJECTIVE: Analyzing the conceptions of supervision of nurses in the Family Health Strategy (ESF - Estratégia Saúde da Família) in relation to community health workers (ACS - Agente Comunitário de Saúde), taking for reference the work process and the power relations. METHOD: A qualitative study, in which 18 interviews were carried out with nurses from the ESF in the countryside of the state of Goiás. Following transcription, the data were subjected to thematic content analysis and the following categories were identified: Supervision with that sees it all and Supervision is participating and working together. RESULTS: Among the findings, it is clear the character of control and monitoring that is carried out primarily through printed instruments and home visits, which constitute vertical and impositive relations, and suffer influence of the local health management. Another finding is the supervision as acting together and with the educational perspective. CONCLUSION: The supervision carried out does not provide the changes intended by the ESF.

[Prevalence and determinants of exclusive breastfeeding in the city of Serrana, São Paulo, Brazil]. / Prevalência e determinantes do aleitamento materno exclusivo no município de Serrana, São Paulo, Brasil.

The objective of this cross-sectional and quantitative study was to identify the prevalence and determinants of exclusive breastfeeding among infants less than six months of age in the city of Serrana, Sao Paulo, Brazil in 2009. A validated semi-structured questionnaire was administered to the guardians of the children less than six months of age who attended the second phase of a Brazilian vaccination campaign against polio. Univariate and multivariate analysis presented in odds ratios and confidence intervals was accomplished. Of the total of 275 infant participants, only 29.8% were exclusively breastfed. Univariate analysis revealed that mothers who work outside the home without maternity leave, mothers who did not work outside the home, adolescent mothers, and the use of pacifiers have a greater chance of interrupting exclusive breastfeeding. In the multivariate analysis, mothers who work outside the home without maternity leave are three times more likely to wean their children early. Results provide suggestions for the redirection and planning of interventions targeting breastfeeding.

[Cartographic notes on the work in the Family Health Strategy: relationships between workers and the population]. / Notas cartográficas do trabalho na Estratégia Saúde da Família: relações entre trabalhadores e população.

The objective of this intervention study was to map instituted and instituting movements present in the work of the Family Health Strategy in the development of their care practices. The theoretical framework is based on institutional analysis, using the schizoanalytic approach. Group meetings were carried out with the staff to discuss how they provided collective care in continuing health education. The study subjects were professionals from the team and students who were engaged in academic activity in the service. The average attendance was twelve people per meeting, and there were a total of eight meetings from March to July 2010. Data were grouped into two immanent strata: the relationships of the team and the relationship with clients. The strata point to the intersection of education and legal institutions and the social and technical division of labor. Collective thinking in groups appeared to be effective in denaturalizing established processes and interrogating places, knowledge and practices.

The research and association between teaching and care in the consolidation of the Brazilian National Health System. / A pesquisa e a articulação ensino-serviço na consolidação do Sistema Único de Saúde.

This article comprises the authors' reflections about theory and experiences about the connection between research, teaching and health care services for the consolidation of the Brazilian National Health System (SUS - Sistema Único de Saúde). The research in collective health nursing face the challenge of breaking with the traditional forms that separate those who research, teach, learn and provide care. The movement for changing the process of caring and teaching occurs through an investigative and reflexive production. Therefore, the studies for the consolidation of the SUS call for an intense connection between teaching-service and knowledge production. It challenges us to create research projects together with the workers, which implies advancing the data collection to data production, and taking students to the activities and internship for the alliance and co-responsibilization of actions. We propose assuming the lack of knowledge to create instituting practices.

[Attributes mobilized by nurses in family health: reaching performances when developing managerial competence]. / Atributos mobilizados pela enfermeira na Saúde da Família: aproximação aos desempenhos na construção da competência gerencial.

This exploratory-descriptive study was performed using a qualitative approach with the purpose to identify and analyze the attributes mobilized in work situations that characterize the performance of nurses in managerial competence in Family Health based on the concepts of dialogic competence. Data collection was performed through participant observation of the work performed by Family Health nurses in four units associated with the University of São Paulo in Ribeirão Preto - SP/Brazil, considering a typical workweek, with a total of 160 hours of observation. Through content analysis, using the thematic analysis technique, we identified five themes related to: supervision, teamwork, social control, work organization and planning. Results show there is a group of attributes mobilized by nurses which remains centered on work organization for individual health care with rare incursions for a systemized planning process.

[Agreement between center of disease control and word health organization reference growth]. / Concordância dos referenciais de crescimento propostos pelo Center of Disease Control e Organização Mundial de Saúde.

The objective this study was to verify the agreement of the guidelines recommended by CDC and WHO to evaluate the nutritional state. This is a cross-sectional study, which counted with the participation of 254 children of ages 3 to 11 months and 29 days from São Paulo and Ribeirão Preto, performed from June 2005 to July 2006. The anthropometric indexes were obtained using the software available on the CDC and WHO websites. The Kappa Test was used for nominal variables (length/age) and weighted-Kappa for ordinal variables (weight/length). It was found that there are differences between the CDC and WHO guidelines regarding the evaluation of child nutrition, with greater differences in the results for children of ages 3 to 6 months.

[Family discussion in the family health strategy: a working process under construction]. / Discussão de famílias na estratégia saúde da família: processo de trabalho em construção.

The objective was to follow the working process of a family health team in their regular meetings held to discuss family cases. This study used a qualitative approach, founded on the theoretical and methodological framework institutional schizoanalytic analysis. Seventeen meetings were followed, which counted with the participation of an average of 7 to 8 of the 17 workers participating in the study. The team held discussions on the families, and classified them according to the risk criteria, reviewed what had been accomplished in the meting and searched for action alternatives. There were disagreements when participants faced differences and difficulties to be heard by their colleagues, which were gradually overcome, and made it possible for the members to share care situations they had in common. The team made an effort to analyze the how they take care of the families and to get them to integrate. It was concluded that the meetings favor the production of care and the construction of group work as the team, while delivering care, deals with the subjectivities produced in their practice.

[Evaluation of organizational and performance features in a Basic Health Unit]. / Avaliação das características organizacionais e de desempenho de uma unidade de atenção Básica à Saúde.

This research aims to evaluate organizational and performance features of a traditional Basic Health Unit, from the Primary Health Care service network, from users' perspective. The sample of 55 users was established using the same criteria of a rapid evaluation methodology, which was already validated and based on a free lectureship research sampling process. Empirical data were collected using the Primary Care Assessment Tool instrument validatedfor Brazil. Results revealed that access is one of the bottlenecks in the system. Primary Health Care practice does not focus on families and community in its process of work. The Basic Health Unit offers several services, establishing itself as an entrance to the system, though it does not always establish a link with users. Investments are needed in the Brazilian municipal health network in order to strengthen Primary Health Care attributes.

Factors associated with musculoskeletal symptoms in professionals working in sitting position.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms and analyze their associated factors in professionals from administrative sectors working predominantly in sitting position. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study with data obtained from 451 workers from a federal public institution in Southern Brazil. The dependent variable was the number of musculoskeletal symptoms in the prior 12 months, measured using the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire. In the analyses, 19 independent variables were investigated, divided into four categories: sociodemographic, behavioral, occupational and health characteristics. Univariate analysis and multiple Poisson regression with robust variance were performed. The independent variables were inserted into blocks with stepwise backward criterion, considering the value for Wald statistics equal to 0.20. The effect measures were expressed in a relative increase (RI) in the mean value, and the data were analyzed for a 5% significance level. RESULTS: The estimated prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms in the prior 12 months was 90% (confidence interval - 95%CI 87-93). In the final model of regression analysis, the variables female gender (RI = 14.75%), low (RI = 100.02%) and moderate (RI = 64.06%) work ability index, use of medications (RI = 48.06%) and waist circumference at risk (RI = 15.59%) had a significant association with the increase in the mean number of symptoms; schooling with technical education acted as a protective factor, reducing the mean by 36.46%. CONCLUSIONS: The high prevalence of musculoskeletal symptoms found and the associated factors indicate the need to propose specific actions and care for this population, such as immediate treatment of symptoms and changes in the organization and work environment, to achieve balance and harmony in the demands of prolonged sitting work and avoid its impact effect of this condition on public health.

Prevalence of anemia in children three to 12 months old in a health service in Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.

Iron deficiency anemia is the most common nutritional deficiency among children. This cross-sectional, descriptive and quantitative study is part of a multicenter project, which verified the prevalence of anemia in children aged three to 12 months, treated by a health service unit in Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. Interviews with mothers and determining hemoglobin dosage were carried out with 121 children who participated in the study. Two international criteria were adopted as parameters of anemia according to the children's age. Descriptive statistics, measures of central tendency and associations were used for data analysis. The prevalence of anemia among 69 children aged three to 5 months was 20.2% and 48.0% among 52 children aged six to 12 months. The total prevalence of anemia was 32.2%. There was significant association between anemia and children's age, and anemia and the consumption of liquid cow's milk.

Assistance in family health from the perspective of users.

This descriptive exploratory study analyzed user satisfaction with the care received at a Family Health Unit in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil. In total, 40 users from families registered in the FHU were selected, using key informants and the snowball sampling technique, and interviewed. Thematic content analysis was used to analyze the empirical material. Interviewees were mostly female, over 50 years, resident in the catchment area of the unit for 10-30 years, had incomplete primary education and also did not perform work outside the home. The analysis identified three themes: access, team-user interaction and organization of work in the FHU. The subjects of this study expressed satisfaction with the accessibility provided together with the caring attention given to them, marked by a team-user interaction that takes place in a friendly and patience manner. Although not totally satisfied, the majority of users would recommend the health service to someone due to its quality.

[(Dis)satisfaction of users: duplication and simultaneous use of services in family health]. / (In)satisfação dos usuários: duplicação e uso simultâneo na utilização de serviços na Saúde da Família.

This descriptive and exploratory study was performed with the purpose to identify the pattern of use of health services: duplication and simultaneous use in a District Reference Unit (URD, acronym in Portuguese) and four Family Health Units (USF, acronym in Portuguese). Secondary data were collected in two stages: the first stage involved identifying the Service Files of the District Reference Unit for 15 days of the month of June 2006; and the second stage involved verifying 856 services delivered among the selected USF to users who were seen at the URD. It was found that there was duplication in the use of health services corresponding to 0.35% of the users seen at the group of services, as well as simultaneous use, corresponding to 3.27% of users. The duplication of health service use is considered to be an indirect indicator for the analysis of user satisfaction, i.e., service use duplication may be understood as an expression of user dissatisfaction.

Preparing the care relationship: a welcoming tool in health units.

This study aimed to identify and analyze aspects regarding the preparation for the worker-user relationship in a primary health care unit in a city in the state of São Paulo-Brazil, from the perspective of welcoming. The health work process is the theoretical basis of the study; participant observation and semi-structured interviews were used as data collection techniques, and thematic analysis in the analysis stage. For the welcoming to be processed, there is a 'moment' of preparation for the worker, the physical environment and the relationships present at work so that users are welcomed, in which the users' needs are sometimes disregarded. Despite the difficulties in terms of resource availability, especially in the public sector, when preparing the service/user and worker/user relationships, one should consider the aspects associated to a more human, welcoming relationship, since it is during live work, in this intersection, that care quality is established.

[The work process in the reception of a primary care unit worker's view]. / O processo de trabalho na recepção de uma unidade básica de saúde: otica do trabalhador.

This qualitative study aimed at understanding the elements that constitute the work process in the reception room of a Primary Care Unit. The theoretical approach used was the work process in health. Data were collected through free observation and semi-structured interview. The Discourse of the Collective Subject and the Thematic Analysis were used for data organization and treatment. Results reveal fragmentation of the work process. The duties are taken as subject of the job, the needs of the users are limited to execution of procedures, and the main instruments are the norms and routines. The work purpose is care to the needy people. We concluded there is a need to develop analysis about the work.

[Nursing in Brazil in the context of the work force of the health: profile and legislation]. / A enfermagem no Brasil no contexto da força de trabalho em saúde: perfil e legislação.

This article approaches nursing as a social practice, grounded in the work category to address the nursing work force in Brazil. It recovers the historical arrangement of its profile associated to the most general organization of the health sector in the country. Workers' profile is related to the aim of the health work process. Authors understand that the moving forces in the health context are restricted, but its organized actors can give directions determined by the technical, ethical and political ambits. Readers are invited to reflect on which nursing profiles are supported and targeted to the multiple Brazils. The characteristics of generalist nursing workers are highlighted, evidencing that new power and knowledge arrangements will be necessary for this training. This can build other profiles and outlines to health work and nursing, more committed with the principles of the Unified Health System.

[Nursing as a discipline: what scientific knowledge field identifies the profession?]. / Enfermagem enquanto disciplina: que campo de conhecimento identifica a profissão?

A critical reflection is proposed on the knowledge that has been produced by Nursing, that identifies it as a discipline, and on whether that knowledge is enough, based on the positive sciences and therefore with a framework of science and scientific discipline in order to build the fundamentals of care, which is the object with which Nursing works. Under a historical perspective, this paper analyzes how Brazilian Nursing, especially since the 1990s, has been dedicating itself to theoretical and practical problems and to concrete experiences on care anchored to various knowledge dimensions, signalizing the need for continuity of knowledge production that is linked to practical and routine experiences of Nursing, including other knowledge approaches that are focused on ontological, existential, dialogical and other dimensions, because the health-disease process is always complex and filled with ethical values which express the singularity of men.

[Conceptions of the family health team about home visits]. / Concepções da equipe de saúde da família sobre as visitas domiciliares.

Connsidering home visits as a technology for interaction in family health care, this study aimed to understand how the Family Health team conceives these visits. A qualitative approach was used and data were collected through semistructured interviews. We interviewed nineteen professionals who belonged to two Family Health teams from an interior city in São Paulo. Results showed that visits are potential activities for more human and welcoming family care, with a view to bonding, confidence relations and getting to know users in the family environment. Visits are sometimes understood as health follow-up and sometimes as surveillance. Difficulties included reduced time availability and the team's impotence to act on problems.

[The Articulator of Primary Health Care Program: an innovative proposal for qualification of Primary Health Care]. / O Programa Articuladores da Atenção Básica: uma proposta inovadora para qualificação da Atenção Básica.

In 2009, the Secretary of State for Health of Sao Paulo created a Program with a view to qualify the primary care in the state. This proposal includes a new job function, namely the articulator of primary care. Due to the scarcity of information about the practice of these new professionals in the scientific literature, this article seeks to analyze how articulators interpret their function and how they describe their daily routines. Thirteen articulators were interviewed. The interviews were duly analyzed by qualitative delineation. The results describe three themes: 1)Roles of the articulator: technical communicator and political advisor; 2) Activities performed to comply with the expected roles, examples being diagnosis of the municipalities, negotiation of proposals, participation in meetings, visits to municipalities; and 3) Challenges of the role, which are configured as challenges to the health reform process, examples being the lack of physical and human resources, activities of professionals in the medical-centered model, among others. The conclusion drawn is that the Program has great potential to provide input for the development and enhancement of Primary Care. Nevertheless, there are a series of challenges to be overcome, namely challenges to the context per se.

Acupuncture in Brazil's Unified Health System - an analysis based on different health management tools. / Acupuntura no Sistema Único de Saúde ­ uma análise nos diferentes instrumentos de gestão.

The integration of Integrative and Complementary Practices into public health systems has been the subject of national and international debate. In Brazil, the National Policy on Integrative and Complementary Practices guides the integration of acupuncture into the Unified Health System (UHS). This article explored the availability and/or accessibility of acupuncture in the UHS in 26 municipalities in the XIII Health Region of the State of São Paulo between 2001 and 2011, based on the analysis of Municipal Health Plans, Annual Management Reports and complementary data obtained from Information Systems. The data was analyzed using a framework for policy analysis based on: context, process, content and actors. Results show that the legislative framework provides a favorable environment; however public funding for these activities is particularly limited. Only government actors participated in the decision-making processes; the plans and reports contained inconsistencies both in structure and in the references made to acupuncture; the process showed that the policy helped to describe the organization of the provision of acupuncture services. The study concludes that the integration of acupuncture and use of health management and planning tools is limited in the 26 municipalities and that this precludes monitoring and maintains these practices on the periphery of the system.