Further training should be provided to professionals caring for patients undergoing craniotomy to better manage post-operative headache.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Pain relief is a basic human right and an ethical issue involving all health professionals. This study aimed at describing what professionals of a multidisciplinary hospital team know about pain and analgesia. METHODS: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study with quantitative approach, carried out at the Teaching Hospital of the Federal University of Sergipe. Sample was made up of 33 physicians, 26 nurses, 10 physiotherapists, 8 pharmacists and 5 psychologists. Data collection tool was a self-applied questionnaire encompassing knowledge about definitions and types of pain, evaluation and measurement, pharmacological and non-pharmacological management, and professional qualification in pain. Data were analyzed by simple descriptive statistics and are presented as tables. RESULTS: Participants of the study were predominantly females (72.0%), young adults (40.2%), with residence as maximum qualification (53.7%). Pain was considered discomfort/ unpleasant sensation (46.3%) and chronic pain was defined as a symptom 48.8%). Only one professional reported using multimodal treatment for pain relief. Most professionals stated having acquired knowledge about pain and analgesia after graduation (79.3%) and that they feel the need for specific qualification (70.7%). CONCLUSION: This study has provided a situational diagnosis of the knowledge of the multiprofessional team of the hospital, showing that there is inconsistency between participants' theoretical basis and their role in handling pain and humanizing assistance.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the validity and reliability of the Brazilian version of the Behavioral Pain Scale (BPS-Br) in victims of traumatic brain injury.MethodsObservational prospective study with paired and repeated measures conducted at two intensive care units (clinical and surgical) of a large general hospital. The convenience sample consisted of adult victims of moderate or severe penetrating or blunt craniocerebral trauma who were sedated and mechanically ventilated. A total of 432 paired observations were performed by independent evaluators simultaneously, prior to eye cleaning, during eye cleaning, during tracheal aspiration and after tracheal aspiration. Sociodemographic, clinical, trauma-related, sedoanalgesia and physiological parameter data (heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure) were collected. The discriminant validity was tested using the Friedman and Wilcoxon paired tests. The intraclass correlation coefficient and Cohen's Kappa coefficient were used to evaluate the reliability. The Spearman correlation test was used to test the association between clinical variables and BPS-Br scores during tracheal aspiration.ResultsThere was a significant increase in the physiological parameters during tracheal aspiration, but without correlation with the BPS-Br scores. Pain was significantly more intense during tracheal aspiration (p < 0.005). Satisfactory interobserver agreement was found, with an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.95 (0.90 - 0.98) and Kappa coefficient of 0.70.ConclusionBrazilian version of the Behavioral Pain Scale scores increased during tracheal aspiration. The Brazilian version of the scale was valid and reliable for pain assessment of traumatic brain injury victims undergoing tracheal aspiration.

Introduction:The dengue fever remains to be a disease of serious public health concern, and its incidence has increased in the past decades. This study aimed to characterize the epidemiological incidence of dengue in the period [2001][2002][2003][2004][2005][2006][2007][2008][2009][2010]. Methods: This is an epidemiological study of dengue in the municipality of Aracaju, state of Sergipe, in the period between 2001 and 2010, whose data were obtained from the Information System of Diseases Notifications. A descriptive analysis of the number of confirmed cases of dengue, according to year, semester, sanitary district, age, and sex, was performed. Results: There were 16,462 confirmed cases, especially in 2008, which obtained the highest incidence of the disease, with 10,485 confirmed cases. The first semester obtained the highest registration of cases during the years of research; this was predominated by females between 15 and 49 years old. With regard to the territorial distribution, the second district of the municipality obtained the highest number of cases. Conclusions: In 2008, in the City of Aracaju, SE, a significant increase in the proportion of dengue cases compared with other years was verified. However, a fast decline in the other years was observed, possibly because of the intensification of preventive actions to combat the mosquito that transmits the dengue virus.

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