Background
Infection of the surgical site is one of the most frequent infections
associated with health care. Objective: To identify the prevalence of
surgical site infection in adults at a hospital in the North of Portugal.
Methods
A prospective study carried out at a hospital in the north of Portugal
in 2015. Inclusion criteria: having been hospitalized in surgical and
obstetrics services in the past 24 hours, aged 16 years or more,
undergoing colon surgery, gallbladder and caesarean section. A
sample of 579 participants was obtained. The characterization of
the patient and the surgery was performed using an inquiry application
in the first 24 hours after surgery, and the registration of the
infection at the time of occurrence within 30 days following the
procedure.
Results
Among the 579 participants 53.4 % were females, with an average
age of 57.1 years (17-97 years), 64.1 % underwent prophylactic antibiotic
therapy, in 52.7 % the surgery was urgent, 6.6 % underwent
surgery laparoscopically, 70.0 % of the surgeries occurred in the surgery
department, of which 33.3 % were cholecystectomy. Predominantly
the wounds were clean (62.0 %). The average wait for surgery
was 7 days, for admission 12 days and average surgical time 59 minutes.
There was a 6.0 % prevalence of surgical site infection and
Escherichia coli accounted for 47.8 % of them. The average time of
onset was 9 days and the organ/space was the most affected site
(48.6 %).
Conclusions
Prevalence of infection was 6.0 %. It is suggested to carry out further
studies that show factors associated with this type of infection.
Background
The use of Non-Invasive Ventilation (NIV) has been increasing in clinical
practice, however, the evidence has shown that its implementation
may lead to development of ulcers of the face. Objective: to
determine the prevalence of face ulcers on the face of patients admitted
in an Intermediate Care Unit (ICU) submitted to NIV and to
identify the factors associated to its development.
Methods
A prospective study conducted in a ICU between September and
December 2015. Inclusion criteria of: age ≥ 18 years, patients admitted
to the ICU, submitted to NIV and without ulcers of the face at
the time of admission, lead us to a sample of 30 participants. Data
were collected through a questionnaire, the Braden and Glasgow
scale.The prevalence of ulcers on the face was of 26.7 % with a mean onset
time of 3.3 ± 1.1 days. Participants were mostly males (70 %), with
a mean age of 74.2 ± 10.3 years. Those who have developed an ulcer
showed an older average age of 76.5 years, 16.7 % were changing
sensitivity, 16.7 % had the facial skin intact and dry, 26.7 % used
reused masks and 16.7 % had an ulcer Grade II. There was a statistically
significant positive correlation between the development of an
ulcer with the number of hours of daily NIV, the number of days of
NIV, days of hospitalization, and a negative correlation with the level of consciousness.
Conclusions
We observed a high prevalence of ulcers. Thus, this emphasizes the
need for further research to increase knowledge to subsidize ulcer
prevention interventions in patients with NIV.
Based on evidence found during the empirical study we can affirm that the nursing profession is affected by work stress. Objective: Evaluate stress and engagement levels among nurses in health units in Portugal and Spain and describe the stress-generating factors among the surveyed nurses.
Methods:
A comparative study on a transversal level. Sample of 867 nurses (504 Portuguese, 363 Spanish), female 83.6 % (78.6 % in Portugal, 90.6 % in Spain) and average age of 37. 77.2 % of the Portuguese and 39.4 % of the Spanish nurses work on average 40 hours per week. 60.6 % and 57.7 % of the Spanish and Portuguese respectively have exercised their profession for 10 years. Pamela Gray-Toft’s Nurs- ing Stress Scale (1981) [1] and Schaufeli & Bakker’s Utrecht Work En- gagement Scale (2003) [2] were used.
Results:
Globally, Portuguese nurses experience higher stress levels although the difference with Spanish nurses is not statistically significant. There are statistically significant differences between Portugal and Spain in “Lack of help from colleagues” and also in the psychological domain in general. Concerning Engagement, there are statistically significant differences in the three dimensions, the p-value of the Student t-test was under 5 %, highlighting that Spanish nurses are more vigorous, dedicated and absorbed by their work.
Conclusions:
Portuguese nurses perceive more psychological stress and mention having less help from colleagues. Spanish nurses feel more vigorous, dedicated and absorbed by their work.
Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disorder with major expansion worldwide. It’s estimated that the number of diabetes sufferers increase rapidly in the coming decades due to the population ageing (Ena,2016;IDF,2015). The nutrition intervention emphasizing the promotion of healthy eating has been shown to be an importante point in Diabetes Mellitus treatment since it fosters a better glycemic control and lipid profile (ADA2016).
Given the high prevalence of diabetes in the population and in the
elderly, it’s crucial to raise awareness of the need for people to
change their eating habits and adopt healthier lifestyles. Nutrition interventions
emphasizing the promotion of healthy eating have been
shown to be an important point in Diabetes Mellitus treatment since it
fosters a better glycaemic control. Objectives: To determine the effectiveness
of the implementation of a dietary programme in the amounts
of glucose and the lipid profile in patients with Diabetes mellitus.
Methods
A systematic review of the literature published in 2015 in PubM
Herbal therapy is characterized by the use of aromatic and medicinal plants (AMP) in different pharmaceutical forms for therapeutic purposes. The present study aims to characterize the use of AMP, drugs and herbal products in Bragança city.
For this, a cross-sectional study was conducted through application of a questionnaire to 404 subjects of both gender and aged between 18 and 89 years.
AMP were therapeutically used by 53.7% mainly due “to be natural” (43.9%) while 33.8% use drugs and/ or herbal products mainly “because it is good for health” (53.5%). The AMP most used were Cidreira (n=149) and Camomila (n=117) and concerning drugs and/ or herbal products Valdispert® (n=48) and Daflon® 500 (n=41) were the most reported. Overall, the reported uses of AMP, drugs and herbal products were correct, according to the reported in literature.
The use of AMP is motivated by self-knowledge (55.4%) while drugs and/ or herbal products are used mostly by medical prescription (44.1%). AMP were obtained by own cultivation (44.1%) and drug and/ or herbal products in pharmacies (89.0%). Of all users, about 90% not combined these products with conventional drugs and it was identified just one potential occurrence of drug interactions related with the use of Hipericão. The occurrence of adverse effects was noted after the use of AMP Sene (11.8%), Hipericão (9.1%) and Ginkgo Biloba (8.3%).
The use of these products is a common practice among the residents of Bragança city, which use a wide diversity of AMP and plant-based products.
Hypertension increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases and is highly prevalent worldwide, reaching more than a quarter of the Portuguese population. Poor antihypertensive therapy adherence has been identified as the main cause of failure to control hypertension.
Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of antihypertensive therapy adherence and related factors.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was based on a questionnaire, with MAT scale (measure of adherence to therapy) validated for the Portuguese population (Delgado & Lima, 2001), applied to 122 hypertensive patients from Bragança county, in northern Portugal. To assess therapy adherence, those whose average adherence levels were ≥5 were called adherent. It was used descriptive statistics, correlations were accessed using qui-square test, with a significance level of 5%.
Results: The sample consisted mainly of females (59,1% vs. 40.9%), aged between 31 and 92 years old (mean 69.8). The participants show high antihypertensive therapy adherence level (82,8%). Only marital status is related to therapy adherence, being married or widowed who least adhered to antihypertensive treatment (p=0.04).
Conclusions: This study shows that a high prevalence of hypertensive patients adhered to antihypertensive therapy prescribed, being married or widowed who least adhered to treatment.
Literature has been pointing towards obesity as the moderating variable
of a depressive vicious cycle of self-esteem and self-image, with
sócia] isolation, anxiety and depression. This in turn drives people to
channel sexual pleasure into the pleasure of food, thus aggravating
their condition of obesity even more and consequently causing a
major negative impact on the individual's sexual life. Ojective: To assess
the importance given to sexuality in obese and overweight individuals
as well as assessing the existence of a correlation between
these variables.
Methods
A quantitative exploratory study was conducted on 218 patients of
both genders (68.3 % female and 31.7 % male) aged between 18
and 65. Data collection was carried out in several hospitais in the
centre and north of the country. The data was collected by using the
Index of Sexual Satisfaction (ISS).
Results
Among participants, 82.2 % were obese or overweight. Among the
obese, 38.1 % registered a type l obesity; 16.4 % had type II obesity
(severe); and 8.7 % had type III obesity (morbid). The obese revealed
to be the ones who gave the most importance to sexuality, despite
also being the ones who present the highest sexual dissatisfaction.
Finally, the results show that there is a positive correlation, though
weak, between sexual dissatisfaction and BMI.
Conclusions
Obese individuais are the ones who revealed the highest sexual dissatisfaction.
Therefore, the cause of such dissatisfaction must be
sought and valued as an issue related to obesity.
Malnutrition affects a significant number of people, the elderly being
the main group affected. Retrospective studies highlight that the
elderly are at higher risk and have higher susceptibility of nutritional
defidencies than young adults. Objective: To assess the risk of malnutrition
in the elderly of Bragança.
Methods
Analytical and cross-sectional study. Based on a sampling error under
5 % and a confidence levei of 95 %, a sample of 385 elderly people stratified by gender and age was studied. A questionnaire was used
including nutritional risk assessment using the Mini Nutritional Assessment
(MNA).
Results
56.4 % (217) are women and 43.6 % (168) are men with an average
Of 76.39 ± 7. 18 years of age. The majority (62. 9 %; 242) is married/civil
partnership and 28.6 % (110) are widowers. 37.8 % (134) relate some
degree of loneliness. We also noticed that 96 elderly (24.9 %) show
risk of malnutrition. Those who are married/in a civil partnership
have higher probability of normal nutritional condition when compared
with single or divorced (OR = 2.925); those with schooling have
higher probability of normal nutritional condition (OR= 2.287) compared
to those without schooling. The ones who mention less loneliness
present 1.5 to 4.7 higher probabilities of normal nutritional
condition compared with the ones who state any levei of loneliness.
The ones who are functionally independent have higher probability
of a normal nutritional state than those who have any degree of
dependency.
Conclusions
Results highlight the need for spedfíc protocols in health institutions to
identify old people at nutritional risk allowing a timely intervention.
Sleep represents a basic human need, embodying several crucial
functions in the young adult phase. Objective: To evaluate the sleep
quality of higher education students.
A descriptive-transversal study with a quantitative approach. Nonprobabilistic
convenience sample of 358 students from Instituto Politécnico
de Bragança (IPB). Data collection tools used: Socio-demographic
record and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI).
The literature reports that Body Mass Index (BMI) changes are directly
related to sexual interest. Individuals with overweight and obesity selfreport
fewer sexual partners and are less likely to have a romantic relationship
compared to their non-obese counterparts.
The objectives of this work are to know the level of perceived sexual
achievement, in overweight people with the Binge Eating Scale
(BES) and to study the association between age and the perception
of quality of sex in people with overweight are the objectives of
this work.
An exploratory and quantitative study was developed, based on a
sample of 218 patients of both genders, aged between 18 and
65 years. Data was collected in various hospitals of northern and central
Portugal with the Sexual Satisfaction Index (SSI) being used for
this purpose.
Of all participants, 64.5 % expressed overweight. On a scale of 0 to
100, the SSI was, on average, 26.7 (SD = 14.6). On average, Individuals
with severe poor scores on the BES registered the highest level of
sexual dissatisfaction. There were, statistically, significant differences
in the SSI, among individuals with and without overweight. Dissatisfaction
is greater the more advanced the age of participants. Contrary
to what is reported in the literature, there was no difference
between individuals with and without overweight according to the
number of sexual partners.
The results obtained with this research are consistent with the literature,
except for those concerning the number of sexual partners.
broadly describes the internal representations of the body structure
and the physical appearance of the individual in regards him/herself
and others. Sexual self-awareness (ACS) can be understood as the
evaluation that each of us makes of his/her feelings and actions related
to his/her sexuality and sexual behaviour, describing what each
of us thinks about sex and what we feel about behaviours. Objective:
Identify dimensions of sexual self-awareness and body image in sexual
satisfaction of the young.
Methods
Correlational descriptive study, a convenience sample of 84 students
of a health school (29.8 % male, 20.2 % female), with ages between 19 and 34 years. As data collection instrument a poll through questionnaire,
incorporating a Body Image Satisfaction and a Multidimensional
Sexual Self-awareness scale, was used.
Results
The majority of the sample subjects indicate having a partner
(59.5 %), perceive themselves as having the ideal weight (75.0 %),
the ideal height (65.5 %) and a normal appearance (76.2 %). Globally
a high and statistically significant ACS was observed (t-Student =
12.520; GL = 83; p-value < 0.001) and significant statistical differences
exist between having/not having a partner and the ACS (Student t =
2,965; GL = 82; p-value = 0.004) showing that those who mention
having a partner have a higher average ACS (average = 3.812; SD =
0.412) compared to those without (average = 3.496; SD = 0.563). No
statistically significant correlations were observed between ACS and
Body Image.
