The concept of vulnerability applied to Healthcare-associated Infections

Abstract

Objective: To discuss the potentialities of using the concept of vulnerability to support measures for preventing and controlling healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Methods: This theoretical study was conducted in steps: 1) presentation of markers that frame the concept of vulnerability; 2) presentation of the characteristics of the health events to which the concept of vulnerability is intended to be applied; 3) identification of research gaps that could be potentially filled by using the concept of vulnerability; 4) identification of the potentialities of using the concept of vulnerability to deal with HAIs. Results: Proposal of a framework for analyzing HAIs from a vulnerability perspective, including the individual and collective dimensions. Conclusion: Using the concept of vulnerability to study and deal with HAIs favors a new approach to an old problem, unlike the dominant studies that highlight the individual aspects of the practices in healthcare services.

Risk, Covid-19 and hospital care in Mexico City: Are we moving toward a new medical practice?

“…Under these structural conditions is where the doctors, interviewed at the hospitals that we studied, work. The pandemic affects preexisting social and job relations, not just rendering visible but also maximizing some of the gaps, such as dependence on residents to be able to function due to scarcity of personnel, increased now due to covid-19 leave, and this, linked to job subordination at the workplace, may have repercussions on their health (Gaona et al, 2018) ies underscore how having greater or lesser job experience, in similar scenarios such as SARS or covid-19, influences the risk of developing problems such as post-traumatic stress disorder due to exposure at the jobsite (Lancee et al, 2008;Lai et al, 2020), which from the anthropological perspective we can consider to be vulnerability caused by structural or social and political processes (Padoveze et al, 2019). Under these structural conditions, the greater or lesser perception of risk of infection held by doctors is influenced by the following social and cultural processes: a) the closeness of age and comorbidities characteristics of at-risk groups b) the type of medical specialization and information and training received, c) the temporary nature of the pandemic and spaces of greater or lesser exposure, d) the PPE and protocols adapted, e) having or not had covid-19.…”

Modelo de vulnerabilidade em saúde: esclarecimento conceitual na perspectiva do sujeito-social

“…No entanto, acredita-se que o sujeito ou coletivo vivencia processos ou está em condição de VS. Não se busca a adjetivação e objetificação, mas as relações, devendo ser repensada, portanto, a utilização do termo vulnerável. (19) Além disso, alguns autores (20) utilizam o termo 'marcador' quando querem caracterizar algum atributo ou situação de VS. Porém, denota uma situação fixada, marcada, de difícil transformação, ou seja, não situacional.…”

“…Nesse sentido, há avanço de estudos nessa perspectiva, em que se identificam na literatura ensaios teóricos sobre VS, bem como sua aplicabilidade na construção de instrumentos/escalas. (2,(20)(21)(22)(23)(24) Então, para dar conta do referencial do esclarecimento, foi produzido um modo de apresentar o conceito. De forma analógica, quando se pensa em uma música e nas suas notas musicais, não se sabe onde encerra uma e inicia a próxima quando as escutamos.…”

Ação antimicrobiana do gás ozônio em superfícies e na aeromicrobiota

“…O controle de Infecções Relacionadas à Assistência à Saúde (IRAS) representa um assunto sensível para a saúde pública, por ser motivo de morbidade, mortalidade e custos elevados, sobretudo em países em desenvolvimento. (1)(2)(3) O ambiente participa efetivamente na transmissão de micro-organismos, onde a contaminação de superfícies inanimadas é o potencial reservatório.…”