Academic training of nursing professionals and its relevance to the workplace.

OBJECTIVE: to identify the training nursing professionals receive and its relevance to the workplace, as well as professional demand for continuous education. METHODOLOGY: this was a descriptive observational study using a questionnaire entitled "Training and Adaptation of the Nursing Professional to the Workplace" available at: http://enfermeriadocente.es for nursing professionals. RESULTS: 53.8% of nurses do not consider the training received to be relevant to the needs of the workplace and 94.2% reported that linking academic education to the workplace impacts on the quality of care provided. CONCLUSIONS: Nursing professionals think that continuous education needs to be adjusted to their jobs and careers. Education should be viewed as a continuum, which begins with training.

[Interconnection between the history of Brazilian nursing education and the ecosystem thoughts]. / Interconexão entre a história da graduação em enfermagem no Brasil e o pensamento ecossistêmico.

This paper aimed to recover, through a theoretical-reflexive, a brief history of graduate nursing in Brazil, and its relationship with ecosystem thoughts. In the discussion one tried to reflect on the history of Brazilian nursing perspective grounded in the Thought Ecosystem. The reflection allowed to cover the meant that the higher education systemic element provides with the space in which it operates and how it processes its construction and modifications through the principles of ecosystem integration, cooperation, interrelation, interdependence and influence among both.

[Absenteeism in nursing staff an integrative review]. / Absenteísmo na enfermagem: uma revisão integrativa.

Absenteeism in nursing staff is a matter of great concern. It interferes with client care, overwhelms other staff members and can cause serious diseases. The purpose of this study is to analyze the national scientific production and abstracts of articles published from 2003 to 2008, that cover the theme of absenteeism among nursing professionals. We carried out an online search in four databases: LILACS, SciELO, BDENF and CAPES Portal. Two themes emerged by the end of the analysis: (1) Diseases that generate absenteeism among nursing professionals and (2) strategies designed to reduce absenteeism. We concluded that nurses are affected by a number of health problems, and this is one of the causes of their absenteeism. Staff dimensioning and formulation of preventive actions are highlighted as strategies to improve working conditions and reduce absenteeism.

[The life of the patient with chronic Chagas disease: possible nursing actions towards a healthy life]. / O viver do portador chagásico crônico: possibilidades de ações do enfermeiro para uma vida saudável.

This study, carried out in two cities in southern Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, aims to get understand how people with chronic Chagas disease live in order to draw possible nursing actions towards a healthier life. The study has a descriptive and exploratory character with a qualitative approach. Data were collected through semi-sctructured interviews carried out with ten Chagas disease chronic carriers at their houses. The results showed that the sickness symptomatology did not appear in the acute phase of the disease; it also showed that most of the carriers make use of palliative medication to alleviate symptoms. There are great limitations to their performing daily chores, especially for heart-affected carriers. The support of the health team, especially the nurse's, is valuable to the clinical management of the patient. When it is started in the early stages of the disease, a better quality of life and a longer life expectancy can be reached.

[Children with special needs: counterpoints between law and reality]. / Criança portadora de necessidades especiais: contrapontos entre a legislação e a realidade.

This study is as theoretical and philosophical reflection and it aims to confront the Brazilian legislation (which is about children who have special needs) with the daily practice Although children's rights have been legalized in 1990 by Statute for Children and Teenagers, we can daily see that there is a gap between what the law guarantees and what is performed in practice. It is necessary to put this legislation into practice so that it is possible to break off with a historical trajectory of prejudice which is imposed against these children. However in order to reach such practicality it is essential that families of children with special needs know their rights in order to exercise their citizenship and enjoy a better quality of life According to the available literature, reality can be changed through the exercise of children and family citizenship and this fact makes them aware of their rights.

[Collective health in the ecosystemic perspective: a possibility of actions of the nurse]. / Saúde coletiva na perspectiva ecossistêmica: uma possibilidade de ações do enfermeiro.

The understructure of the collective health as looking for strategies of protection to the environment also develops a practice of ecosystemic conscience. The ecological practices recognize the right of the human being of living in a healthy and appropriate environment, and being informed about the risks of the environment regarding the health and his welfare. The aim of this present work is to stimulate a reflexive-theoretically discussion on the adoption of the ecological urbane practices in communities and the relation with the collective health and to glimpse insertion possibilities of the actions of the nurse in this space. The conversations actions, a stimulative discussion and approximation of the nurse with the habitat of the human, are able to find reciprocity in the collective health and to the ecosystemic approach. The respect his beliefs and to his knowledge in relation his necessities in health, can come across, objectively, in the promotion of the ecological conscience and of the collective wish turned to the citizenship.

[Mothers experiencing the diagnosis of cerebral palsy in their children]. / Mães vivenciando o diagnóstico da paralisia cerebral em seus filhos.

The study aimed at understanding how the mothers of children with special needs, due to the diagnosis of cerebral palsy, experienced the disclosure of the diagnosis. An exploratory-descriptive research was held from a qualitative approach. Data were collected and recorded through semi-structured interviews with six mothers of children with cerebral palsy that attended the institution of the study and analyzed according to Roy's Adaptation Model. The results pointed out that the main difficulties faced by the mothers were related to the understanding and acceptance of the situation by the family and the lack of preparation of the health professionals in revealing the diagnosis of special needs of their children.

[Work-related musculoskeletal disorders and their association with occupational nursing]. / Doenças osteomusculares relacionadas ao trabalho (DORT) e sua associação com a enfermagem ocupacional.

Work-related musculoskeletal diseases (MSD) are disorders in the musculoskeletal structures caused by chronic occupational processes. The objective of this study was to get to know scientific papers on MSD related to the nursing profession. A bibliographic research of the last ten years was conducted at Health Virtual Library using the main data bases. Twenty-one summaries were found. Among them, thirteen were selected because they specifically focused on the subject. Three main areas were identified: occupational health nurses in relation to MSDs--their importance in health prevention and promotion; Ergonomics as MSDs prevention method: performed as changes on work consider risk factors; Vulnerability of Nursing staff to MSDs--predisposing factors to disease caused by inappropriate working conditions. The conclusion was that an occupational and ergonomic health service is important to prevent MSDs, especially among the nursing staff.

[Nurses: collaborating agents in the execution of the institutional mission]. / Trabalhador de enfermagem: agente colaborador no cumprimento da missão institucional.

The study aimed to investigate the strategy that can be used by health institutions, with respect to the nurse's optics, to motivate/value and to promote the nursing worker's training, while collaborating agent of the institution seeking for the execution of his/her mission. For the materialization of the same, we invested in a qualitative, descriptive and exploratory methodology, whose research instrument, semi-structured, was applied to 15 nurses, being guaranteed to them, the ethical and legal issues reasonable in that study. In concluding this study we verified that the main strategies that can be used in health institutions, under the nurse's optics, to motivate/ value and to promote the nursing worker's training, concerns to the dialogue need and the promotion of the professional growth.