Home Hospital and Health Education: legal documentation analysis pre COVID / Hospital a Domicilio y Educación para la Salud: análisis legislativo pre COVID

Introduction: Hospital from home (HH) is a valid and stable alternative to the conventional hospital admission. Although it has been used since early XX century only recently was implemented in Portugal, on the public sector. Health literacy is a sine qua non condition to exercise of citizenship and informed consenting.Method:document analysis based on a review process of public legal documents from the last 5 years related with the implementation of HH and the development and role that health literacy plays on the process on HH. A discourse analysis was undertaken after documents gathering.Results:a total of 27 documents were recovered from the Portuguese public legal database (Diário da República Portuguesa). From those, a total of 3 versed HH. Discourse analysis presented the lack of emphasis on health literacy on the documents and, thus, on the legal fundamentals of implementation of HH units.Conclusions:Health literacy is a key element to included individuals on their health seeking behaviors and to manage their own health balance. Thus, to accept a different kind of hospital admission (when conditions are met) individuals should be provided with fundamental tools to overcome and develop their health literacy and to have an informed decision and consenting. Health literacy and health education are the core of HH units and, therefore, should be present on the discourse that establishes the units implementation on a legal basis. (AU)

Introducción: La Hospitalización Domiciliaria es una alternativa válida y competente al internamiento clásico. No obstante, a pesar de contar con una existencia desde el siglo XX, solo recientemente fue una opción concreta para los pacientes del Serviço Nacional de Saúde. La educación para la salud y la alfabetización en salud son criterios fundamentales para un ejercicio de ciudadanía plena y acceso a cuidados de salud.Método:Estudio de análisis documental basada en una revisión de los documentos legales (leys) de los últimos cinco años (2015-2020) y relacionado con la hospitalización domiciliaria y alfabetización en salud y educación para la salud. Al final se realizó un análisis discursivo de los documentos elegidos.Resultados:Un total de 27 documentos resultaron de la búsqueda en el website del Diário da República Portuguesa Online. Dentro de este, 3 eran del Ministério da Saúde y su alcance era la Hospitalización Domiciliaria. El análisis discursivo demostró que no hay énfasis en el soporte legal para la Hospitalización Domiciliaria y sus unidades sobre la educación para la salud o alfabetización en salud.Conclusiones:La educación para la salud y la alfabetización en salud son promotores de comportamientos saludables y el conocimiento puede servir para manejar enfermedades crónicas. La Hospitalización Domiciliaria maneja, mayoritariamente, enfermos con condiciones crónicas en fase aguda. La Hospitalización Domiciliaria es un contexto importante para desarrollar procesos de educación para la salud y promoción de la alfabetización en salud. Es fundamental que la documentación que regula el funcionamiento de la Hospitalización Domiciliaria tenga suporte para intervenciones para la promoción de la alfabetización y educación para la salud. (AU)

Contaminación medioambiental por colillas del tabaco: el tabaco de cuarta mano / Environmental contamination from tobacco ends: fourth hand tobacco

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Informed Consent in Contrast-Enhanced CT: Understanding of Risks and Identification of Possible Prognostic Factors.

PURPOSE: Aim of our study was to assess understanding of risks associated with intravascular application of contrast media in patients undergoing CT examination. We wanted to evaluate epidemiologic and socio-economic prognostic factors for a higher understanding of risks. Additionally, we evaluated a possible correlation between an extensive, outcome-oriented oral informed consent and better understanding of risks. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 120 patients distributed in 2 study arms participated in this prospective study. In study arm I, the treating physician was not informed that his patients participated in a study whereas the physician in study arm II knew about the survey. After the informed consent we performed a standardized, semi-structured interview to enquire the 3 most frequent risks of intravascular application of contrast agents (anaphylactoid reactions, nephropathy and thyrotoxic crisis) and epidemiologic data. The understanding of the risks was evaluated using a 6 point scale. RESULTS: Patients scored 3.73 points in study arm I and 4.93 points in arm II on average. The statistical difference between both study arms was highly significant (p <0.001). In a combined logistic regression analysis, only "higher education" (p = 0.001) and participation in study arm II (p =0 .001) showed a significant connection to a better understanding of risks. CONCLUSION: Patients profit from an outcome-oriented and individualized informed consent. Due to the significant correlation between educational level and understanding of risks, informed consent should be adjusted to the educational status of the individual patient, e. g. by using didactic aids or individualized information sheets.

A NARRATIVE MODEL OF INFORMED CONSENT WITH YOUTH: DECISIONS AROUND ELECTIVE NON-MEDICAL CIRCUMCISION.

This paper examines narratives from young men seeking non-medical circumcision. Non-medical circumcision remains controversial, yet there are young men seeking elective circumcision. At our centre, young men 15 to 17 seeking elective circumcision were asked to write short pieces to reflect their understanding and reason(s) for wanting circumcision. Fourteen youth participated; four changed their minds about the procedure. Findings are described and evaluated within the medico-legal description of informed consent, and, from a narrative ethics perspective explicitly concerned with giving voice to patients. Persons are presumed capable of making their own health care decisions, yet, with youth, there may be a concern that an irrevocable decision may be coerced, or impulsive. Narrative reflections provide a means by which (i) misinformation/misunderstanding can be resolved (ii) coercion can be minimized and (iii) impulsivity mitigated. This paper describes our experience with narrative reflection and aims to facilitate informed decision-making for elective procedures among youth, and other potentially vulnerable populations.

Using law to fight a silent epidemic: the role of health literacy in health care access, quality, & cost.

The dominant rhetoric in the health care policy debate about cost has assumed an inherent tension between access and quality on the one hand, and cost effectiveness on the other; but an emerging discourse has challenged this narrative by presenting a more nuanced relationship between access, quality, and cost. This is reflected in the discourse surrounding health literacy, which is viewed as an important tool for achieving all three goals. Health literacy refers to one's ability to obtain, understand and use health information to make appropriate health decisions. Research shows that improving patients' health literacy can help overcome access barriers and empower patients to be better health care partners, which should lead to better health outcomes. Promoting health literacy can also reduce expenditures for unnecessary or inappropriate treatment. This explains why, as a policy matter, improving health literacy is an objective that has been embraced by almost every sector of the health care system. As a legal matter, however, the role of health literacy in ensuring quality and access is not as prominent. Although the health literacy movement is relatively young, it has roots in longstanding bioethical principles of patient autonomy, beneficence, and justice as well as the corresponding legal principles of informed consent, the right to quality care, and antidiscrimination. Assumptions and concerns about health literacy seem to do important, yet subtle work in these legal doctrines--influencing conclusions about patient understanding in informed consent cases, animating decisions about patient responsibility in malpractice cases, and underlying regulatory guidance concerning the quality of language assistance services that are necessary for meaningful access to care. Nonetheless, health literacy is not explicitly treated as a legally relevant factor in these doctrines. Moreover, there is no coherent legal framework for incorporating health literacy research that challenges traditional assumptions about patient comprehension and decision-making, and that emphasizes the need for providers to improve communication and take affirmative steps to assess patient understanding. The absence of a clear and robust consideration of health literacy in these doctrines undermines core access and quality aims, and it means that such laws are of limited efficacy in promoting health literacy. Returning to the theme that the health literacy problem reflects a complementary view of access, quality and cost, it is likely that the cost implications of this problem (and not concerns about quality and access) will motivate the kind of health literacy reform that may ultimately strengthen existing quality and access standards. One recent example of this can be seen in reforms linked to government, insurer and provider attempts to reduce costly medication errors.

Health literacy: a second decade of distinction for Americans.

Efforts to describe health literacy in the last decade have helped us define the issue and recognize that our public's skills and abilities are not adequate for successfully navigating the growing demands and complexity of healthcare. There have been significant developments in health literacy over the last decade, with milestones of progress. Much of the work done in the 1990s focused on defining health literacy, initially measuring its prevalence and subsequently looking at its associations. Since then, health literacy has grown from an issue of an under-recognized "silent epidemic" to an issue of health policy and reform. Ideas and objectives proposed have actually been adopted in recent years, with significant policy developments. This article recognizes many achievements and milestones while developing recommendations for implementation in the decade ahead.