Researchers looked at the perception of Kenyan women about voluntary counseling and testing for HIV. Fear of stigma, especially targeting women, is the main reason for not submitting to VCT.
In order to generalize the use of VCT and thus to provide treatment to the ones in need, there should be more emphasis put on education for the general population about HIV.
Dans le cadre du programme national “Migrant Friendly Hospitals” voici les résultats d’une étude faite auprès des soignants (médecins et infirmiers/ères) du CHUV concernant leurs compétences à soigner des patients de cultures différentes (compétences transculturelles). Sur la base de questionnaires auto-administrés, 244 infirmières et 124 médecins ont auto-évalué leur savoir-faire lorsqu’il s’agit de soigner un patient migrant. Les questions étaient basées sur le “Cross-Cultural Care Survey”, un outil déjà validé.
Parmi les infirmières :
(seulement) 6 sur 10 se percevait comme compétente ou très compétente pour évaluer la compréhension du patient concernant la cause de sa propre maladie ou pour identifier à quel point le patient peut lire ou écrire en français.
Seulement une infirmière sur 2 se sent compétente ou très compétente pour travailler de façon efficace avec un interprète communautaire.
Seulement 4 infirmières sur 10 s’évaluent compétentes pour identifier les habitudes culturelles et les croyances religieuses qui pourraient influencer les soins.
La troisième session de la formation continue “Migration et Santé”, organisée par la PMU a abordé ce sujet qui a été relayé dans plusieurs médias suisses romands, suite aux résultats de l’étude CERESO, portant sur le renoncement aux soins pour des raisons économiques.
Ainsi, sur la base de questionnaires distribués à 2030 patients dans 47 cabinets médicaux de Suisse romande, l’étude a pu mettre en évidence que 1 patient sur 10 a du renoncer à des soins médicaux (y compris soins dentaires) pour des raisons économiques au cours de l’année précédente.
Ainsi, «Durant les douze derniers mois, avez-vous eu de la peine à payer les factures de votre ménage ?» est la question-clé qui va permettre au médecin (et aux autres soignants) d’ ouvrir la porte à la discussion avec le patient, concernant son éventuelle difficulté à accéder aux soins nécessaires pour des raisons financières.
Article: Bodenmann, P. et al. (2014). Renoncement aux soins : comment appréhender cette réalité en médecine de premier recours?. Rev Med Suisse, 10, 2258-63.
The PARTNER study, involving more than 750 discordant heterosexual and homosexual couples, are showing that an effective treatment by antiretroviral therapy (ART) prevents the transmission of HIV to the seronegative partner.
This study brings evidence showing that treatment as prevention works.
Results were reported at the 21st Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2014) in Boston, in March 2014
Margot Phaneuf, docteur en Soins infirmiers, nous rappelle l’importance d’écrire à propos de notre travail. Cela afin de favoriser la construction du savoir et l’évolution de notre profession!
Access to quality health care for all is a universal goal for health.
The way migrant people access quality healthcare services is yet poor.
This metasynthesis pulled together results about barriers in access to health care that were described in quality studies retrieved in the international literature.
When providing clinical medical and nursing care to patients, there is an increasing effort to provide quality care that is evidence-based. Here is an excellent and rapid way to learn about Evidence-based-practice and see a practical example of how to do it!
Some researchers compared Pub Med and Google Scholar. For bio- medical systematic reviews and non expert researchers, Pub Med came out better off. Google scholar seems to be an excellent source of literature but it should not be used alone. see abstract here
Abstract
Background
Epidemiological and biomedical evidence link adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) with health-harming behaviors and the development of non-communicable disease in adults. Investment in interventions to improve early life experiences requires empirical evidence on levels of childhood adversity and the proportion of HHBs potentially avoided should such adversity be addressed.
A nationally representative survey of English residents aged 18 to 69 (n = 3,885) was undertaken during the period April to July 2013. Individuals were categorized according to the number of ACEs experienced. Modeling identified the proportions of HHBs (early sexual initiation, unintended teenage pregnancy, smoking, binge drinking, drug use, violence victimization, violence perpetration, incarceration, poor diet, low levels of physical exercise) independently associated with ACEs at national population levels.
Almost half (47%) of individuals experienced at least one of the nine ACEs. Prevalence of childhood sexual, physical, and verbal abuse was 6.3%, 14.8%, and 18.2% respectively (population-adjusted). After correcting for sociodemographics, ACE counts predicted all HHBs, e.g. (0 versus 4+ ACEs, adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals)): smoking 3.29 (2.54 to 4.27); violence perpetration 7.71 (4.90 to 12.14); unintended teenage pregnancy 5.86 (3.93 to 8.74). Modeling suggested that 11.9% of binge drinking, 13.6% of poor diet, 22.7% of smoking, 52.0% of violence perpetration, 58.7% of heroin/crack cocaine use, and 37.6% of unintended teenage pregnancy prevalence nationally could be attributed to ACEs.
Stable and protective childhoods are critical factors in the development of resilience to health-harming behaviors in England. Interventions to reduce ACEs are available and sustainable, with nurturing childhoods supporting the adoption of health-benefiting behaviors and ultimately the provision of positive childhood environments for future generations.
Child abuse; Childhood; Alcohol; Smoking; Violence
Dr. Terrie Taylor is a medical professor at Michigan State University who spent years studying malaria in Africa. In 2008 she managed to get a Magnetic resonance imaging machines (MRI’s) donated to her project in order to research the reactions going on in the brain of children suffering from severe malaria. access link here
Severe malaria is the kills 600,000 children under five every year worldwide, mostly in sub-saharan Africa. Taylor and her colleagues used the MRI on dozens of sick patients, and they noticed an unmistakable pattern: Children whose brains swelled dramatically and irreversibly died. Children whose brains did not swell – or swelled, but then returned to a normal size – lived.
This discovery is important because it might dramatically increase the chances for children to survive a severe malaria, by administrating drugs to reduce brain swelling. These drugs (corticosteroid) are in the WHO List of Essential Medicines for Children and are likely to be easily accessible in most health centers in Africa.