Dados do Trabalho

Título

VALIDATION OF THE MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR SNAKEBITES PATIENT TREATMENT BY THE PUBLIC HEALTH UNITS IN BRAZIL

Introdução

Snakebites represent a major public health problem worldwide, in Brazil, an average of 29,000 cases and 130 deaths are recorded per year, with the highest incidence reported in the Amazon, where the highest rates of complications and lethality of these cases are recorded, the difficulties in access to health services for the provision of adequate treatment with antivenom and first aid are aggravating factors, these barriers are due to the need for trained professionals, availability of specific equipment and essential supplies in health units close to these populations in remote areas.

Objetivo (s)

The aim of this study was to elaborate and validate the minimum requirements for the provision of antivenom treatment by public health units in Brazil. 

Material e Métodos

Resultados e Conclusão

The construction of the instrument was carried out by a committee of leaders and researchers in the area, where they stipulated a checklist of potential items and were divided into: Site Information, human resources, equipment, consumables and medicines necessary for the management of snake envenoming. The validation of this instrument was performed by qualified judges and experts, who were selected by inclusion criteria, the validation occurred in two stages, in the first was evaluated item by item according to the type of unit, in the second was performed with pending validation items and new items included by the judges of the first phase. In this study, as in other validation studies of instruments for health, the knowledge and experience of the judges was considered. 80 items were included in each type of unit, in general, the same items were considered important in the three types of health units. What varied between units was that in Type 1 units an important portion of the items was considered desirable, unlike in Type 2 and 3 units, in which essential items predominated. The validated instrument is an important step for the decentralization of antivenom treatment in Brazilian health units and will help in the classification and requirements for the provision of specialized clinical management, thus evidencing the minimum resources necessary for the storage and administration of antivenom.

Palavras Chave

Snakebite envenoming; antivenom; Heath service; Validation