More than Cramps in Scrubs: Exploring Dysmenorrhea among Women Healthcare Workers.

Though understudied, dysmenorrhea, a painful cramping sensation occurring near and during menses, is the most prevalent gynecological disorder among women of reproductive age, affecting 50-90% of the global population. Contributing factors of this disorder include poor medical assessment, lack of consciousness, gender bias, moderate to high levels of stress, and depression and anxiety. Among school students and healthcare trainees, dysmenorrhea contributes to short-term absenteeism, lower productivity, creativity, and job performance. Among medical trainees, dysmenorrhea has been found to impact daily activities to a disabling degree in nearly one third of instances, resulting in difficulties in relationships and even self-isolation. Dysmenorrhea further produces substantial global economic losses and higher healthcare costs. To begin to alleviate the extensive issue of dysmenorrhea, we must increase awareness to fully understand its prevalence, risk factors, and potential for effective, affordable, and accessible treatments. Concurrently, our clinical environment must adopt a standard description and assessment tool to prevent, measure, and monitor dysmenorrhea, while on a global scale, we must develop and widely disseminate nationwide labor regulations that address the workforce impact due to the effects of dysmenorrhea.

How many and which physicians? A comparative study of the evolution of the supply of physicians and specialist training in Brazil and Spain.

BACKGROUND: In the face of the medical workforce shortage, several countries have promoted the opening of medical schools and the expansion of undergraduate and specialization education in medicine. Few studies have compared the characteristics and effects of expanding the supply of general practitioners and specialist physicians between countries. Brazil and Spain, two countries with distinct historical processes and socioeconomic scenarios, yet both with universal public health systems and common aspects in training and medical work, have registered a significant increase in the number of physicians and can be used to understand the challenges of strategic planning for the medical workforce. METHODS: This study provides a descriptive approach using longitudinal data from official databases in Brazil and Spain from 1998 to 2017. Among the comparable indicators, the absolute numbers of physicians, the population size, and the physician's ratio by inhabitants were used. The number of medical schools and undergraduate places in public and private institutions, the supply of residency training posts, and the number of medical specialists and medical residents per 100 000 inhabitants were also used to compare both countries. Seventeen medical specialties with the highest number of specialists and comparability between the two countries were selected for further comparison. RESULTS: Due to the opening of medical schools, the density of physicians per 1 000 inhabitants grew by 28% in Spain and 51% in Brazil between 1998 and 2017. In that period, Spain and Brazil increased the supply of annual undergraduate places by 60% and 137%, respectively. There is a predominance of private institutions providing available undergraduate places, and the supply of medical residency posts is smaller than the contingent of medical graduates/general practitioners each year. CONCLUSION: Both countries have similar specialist densities in cardiology, dermatology, and neurosurgery specialties. However, family medicine and community in Spain has 91.27 specialists per 100 000 inhabitants, while in Brazil, the density is only 2.64. The comparative study indicated the complexity of the countries' decisions on increasing the medical supply of general practitioners and specialist physicians. Research and planning policies on the medical workforce must be aligned with the actual health needs of populations and health systems.

Necessidade e dinâmica da força de trabalho na Atenção Básica de Saúde no Brasil / Needs and dynamics of the Primary Healthcare workforce in Brazil

Resumo A Atenção Básica e a Força de Trabalho em Saúde podem ser consideradas os grandes desafios do SUS, principalmente nas duas últimas décadas. Este artigo teve como objetivo descrever o crescimento e a distribuição regional das profissões de nível superior cadastradas em UBS. Estudo descritivo, de abordagem quantitativa, sobre as catorze profissões de nível superior nas cinco regiões brasileiras, de 2008 a 2013. Entre as categorias profissionais com as maiores taxas de crescimento nacional estão os professores de educação física, os nutricionistas, os terapeutas ocupacionais, os fisioterapeutas e os farmacêuticos. No Norte, a fisioterapia, o serviço social e a fonoaudiologia se destacaram com as maiores taxas de crescimento; no Nordeste, a educação física, a fisioterapia e a terapia ocupacional; no Centro-Oeste, os destaques são a nutrição e a fisioterapia; no Sudeste, nutrição e farmácia; e a educação física apresentou crescimento proeminente no Sul. As maiores perdas ocorreram nas profissões biólogo e médico veterinário, em todas as regiões. De modo geral, as categorias profissionais que podem compor o NASF apresentaram crescimento superior aos enfermeiros e médicos.

Abstract Primary care and the healthcare workforce can be considered the greatest challenges of SUS (Sistema Único de Saúde), principally in recent decades. This article aims to describe the growth and regional distribution of the professions requiring higher education registered in the primary healthcare units. This descriptive study with a quantitative approach is concerned with the 14 accredited professions in the five major regions of Brazil from 2008 to 2013. The data was collected from the national database of the Ministry of Health. Among the professional categories with the greatest rates of national growth are physical education teachers, nutritionists, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, and pharmacists. In the North region of Brazil, physiotherapy, social work, and speech therapy stand out as having the greatest growth rates; in the Northeast, physical education, physiotherapy, and occupational therapy; and in the Center-West, nutrition and physiotherapy; in the Southeast, nutrition and pharmacology; and physical education showed prominent growth in the South. The major losses occurred in the professions of biologist and veterinary doctors in all regions. In general, the professional categories that comprise the Family Health Support Nuclei, NASF, demonstrate greater growth rates than nurses and doctors.

Frequência de taxa tuberculínica entre os trabalhadores do Hospital Antônio Pedro / Frecuencia de la tasa de tuberculosis entre los trabajadores del Hospital Antonio Pedro / Frequency of tuberculin rate among workers of the Hospital Antônio Pedro

Objective: describing the frequency of positivity rate of tuberculosis among the workers of a university hospital in the municipality of Niterói, in Rio de Janeiro, in the period from January 2008 to March 2011. Also, identifying in which sectors where the conversion of tuberculin evidence has occurred. Method: this is a transversal and retrospective study, of descriptive type, developed from a database provided by PCTH (Hospital Tuberculosis Control Program) of the referred university hospital in Niterói - RJ. Results: from the total of 663 employees, 261(39%) have presented a positivity rate in tuberculosis test, being 45% of them of male gender. The nutrition sector and the emergency sector were the ones that have presented the higher positivity rates in tuberculosis test, with, respectively, 12% and 13%. Both have had 10% of conversion rate of its professionals in three years. Conclusion: this survey indicates that there are risks of tuberculosis infection in healthcare units with incidence of tuberculosis cases.

Objetivo: descrever a frequência da taxa de positividade tuberculínica entre os trabalhadores de um hospital universitário do município de Niterói, RJ no período de janeiro de 2008 a março de 2011; - identificar os setores onde ocorreu conversão na prova tuberculina. Método: trata-se de um estudo transversal, retrospectivo, de tipo descritivo, desenvolvido a partir de um banco de dados fornecido pelo PCTH (programa de controle da tuberculose hospitalar) do referido hospital. Resultados: do total de 663 funcionários, 261(39%) apresentaram taxa de positividade na prova tuberculínica, sendo 45% do sexo masculino. Os setores que apresentaram maiores taxas de positividade na prova tuberculínica foram o serviço de nutrição (12%) e emergência (13%) onde a taxa de conversão entre os profissionais foi de 10% no período de 3 anos. Conclusão: este estudo indica que há risco de infecção tuberculosa em unidades de saúde com incidência de casos de tuberculose.

Objetivo: describir la tasa de frecuencia de positividad de tuberculosis entre los trabajadores de un hospital universitario de la ciudad de Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, en el período comprendido entre enero de 2008 y marzo de 2011; - identificar los sectores donde se produjo la conversión en la prueba tuberculina. Método: se trata de un estudio transversal y retrospectivo, de tipo descriptivo, desarrollado a partir de una base de datos proporcionada por PCTH (programa de control de tuberculosis hospitalaria) del referido hospital. Resultados: del total de 663 empleados, 261 (39%) mostraron positividad en la prueba tuberculina, siendo 45% hombres. Los sectores con las mayores tasas de positividad tuberculina fueron los servicios de nutrición (12%) y de emergencia (13%), donde la tasa de conversión entre los profesionales fue de 10% en 3 años. Conclusión: este estudio indica que hay riesgo de infección por tuberculosis en los centros de salud con la incidencia de la tuberculosis.