Lineamientos técnicos para la presentación de informes de política breves (Policy Brief) / Technical guidelines for reporting policy brief

La articulación entre la investigación científica y el diseño de políticas públicas efectivas es una de las principales herramientas de legitimidad para los hacedores de política. La producción de nueva evidencia se ha incrementado en los últimos años, nuevas metodologías y herramientas tecnológicas han dado paso a una expansión de la frontera del conocimiento, ampliando las perspectivas y mejorando el conocimiento a cerca de diferentes problemáticas de la humanidad. En este sentido, la demanda por "Ciencia aplicable" se hace preponderante. Es por esto que los documentos breves de política (Policy Brief) se han convertido en una herramienta de difusión útil para los científicos y actores políticos. El presente documento describe las características de los Policy Brief y plantea los lineamientos básicos para la escritura y presentación de los mismos, con miras a convertirlos en una herramienta de difusión de las investigaciones que se lleven a cabo en el Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social.

Alcohol consumption as an incremental factor in health care costs for traffic accident victims: evidence in a medium sized Colombian city.

OBJECTIVES: Identify the possibility that alcohol consumption represents an incremental factor in healthcare costs of patients involved in traffic accidents. METHODS: Data of people admitted into three major health institutions from an intermediate city in Colombia was collected. Socio-demographic characteristics, health care costs and alcohol consumption levels by breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) methodology were identified. Generalized linear models were applied to investigate whether alcohol consumption acts as an incremental factor for healthcare costs. RESULTS: The average cost of healthcare was 878 USD. In general, there are differences between health care costs for patients with positive blood alcohol level compared with those who had negative levels. Univariate analysis shows that the average cost of care can be 2.26 times higher (95% CI: 1.20-4.23), and after controlling for patient characteristics, alcohol consumption represents an incremental factor of almost 1.66 times (95% CI: 1.05-2.62). CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol is identified as a possible factor associated with the increased use of direct health care resources. The estimates show the need to implement and enhance prevention programs against alcohol consumption among citizens, in order to mitigate the impact that traffic accidents have on their health status. The law enforcement to help reduce driving under the influence of alcoholic beverages could help to diminish the economic and social impacts of this problem.