Legislation for ostomates in Portugal: components of the attention to health model

ABSTRACT

Ostomy refers to the opening created surgically in the body for waste discharge (IOA CC, 2016) to maintain communication with the external environment by a fistula, which may connect to a tube or a pouch depending on the patient's clini-cal outlook. In Portugal, the number of ostomized patients is about 15 thousand, among whom 80% to 90% are people who suffer or have suffered from oncological diseases. The aim of this study is to describe the Portuguese legislation that deals with attention to ostomates and to identify records that contain the elements of a theoretical model (TM) of this intervention in these official sources. This is a des-criptive documental study covering the period between May 1989 and February 2017. The study revealed that the vast majority of the legislation ensures the rights of ostomized people. The stomatologist was identified as a human resource requi-red to develop care practices. The physical resources identified in the documents referred only to the collecting devices. The other structural resources required for the development of activities, such as physical space, adapted bathroom, environ-ment, doctor's surgery, computer resources, information systems, etc. were not found in the study sources. Conclusions: There is a wide range of legislation with rights focused on prevention, rehabilitation and integration of ostomized people, as well as social protection schemes such as disability pensions, special leave and free medical devices. We propose creating a regulation based on existing legisla-tion to establish national guidelines for ostomized people at different levels of care

RESUMEN

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