Using a mentorship model to localise the Practical Approach to Care Kit (PACK): from South Africa to Brazil

Practical Approach to Care Kit: inovação para a clínica do enfermeiro no manejo do HIV

Resumo Objetivo: analisar a utilização do Practical Approach to Care Kit como uma tecnologia adotada na prática clínica dos enfermeiros no manejo do HIV na Atenção Primária à Saúde. Método: pesquisa exploratória e descritiva, ancorada no referencial metodológico da Teoria Fundamentada nos Dados Construtivista. A definição dos participantes foi realizada por amostragem inicial, com 12 enfermeiros, e amostragem teórica, com cinco gestores, totalizando 17 participantes. Os dados foram coletados por entrevistas intensivas e análise documental, e foram analisados em duas etapas: 1) codificação inicial; e 2) codificação focalizada. Resultados: os profissionais identificaram o Practical Approach to Care Kit como uma inovação tecnológica que contribuiu para a ampliação da prática clínica e empoderamento do enfermeiro no manejo clínico da infecção por HIV. Também destacaram sua importância como ferramenta para orientação das diferentes responsabilidades e atribuições no compartilhamento do cuidado, contribuindo para a prestação de práticas baseadas em evidências. Conclusão: o Practical Approach to Care Kit é uma inovação tecnológica que transformou a prática clínica do enfermeiro no manejo do HIV, ampliando seu escopo de atividades na realização do diagnóstico, avaliação da condição de saúde e aconselhamento, avaliação da adesão ao tratamento, efeitos adversos e prescrição de exames, medicamentos e imunobiológicos.

Practical Approach to Care Kit: innovación para la clínica de enfermería en el manejo del VIH

Resumen Objetivo: analizar el uso del Practical Approach to Care Kit como tecnología adoptada en la práctica clínica de los enfermeros en el manejo del VIH en la Atención Primaria de la Salud. Método: investigación exploratoria y descriptiva, basada en el marco metodológico de la Teoría Fundamentada en los Datos Constructivistas. La definición de los participantes fue realizada por muestreo inicial, con 12 enfermeros, y muestreo teórico, con cinco gestores, fueron 17 participantes en total. Los datos fueron recolectados a través de entrevistas intensivas y análisis de documentos, y fueron analizados en dos etapas: 1) codificación inicial; y 2) codificación enfocada. Resultados: los profesionales identificaron el Practical Approach to Care Kit como una innovación tecnológica que contribuyó a la expansión de la práctica clínica y al empoderamiento de los enfermeros en el manejo clínico de la infección por VIH. También destacaron su importancia como herramienta para orientar las diferentes responsabilidades y obligaciones en la distribución de la atención de los pacientes, contribuyendo a la prestación de prácticas basadas en evidencia. Conclusión: el Practical Approach to Care Kit es una innovación tecnológica que ha transformado la práctica clínica de los enfermeros en el manejo del VIH, ampliando su radio de acción para la realización del diagnóstico, evaluación del estado de salud y asesoramiento, evaluación de la adherencia al tratamiento, efectos adversos y prescripción de exámenes, medicamentos e inmunobiológicos.

Practical Approach to Care Kit: Innovation for nurses' clinical practice in HIV management

OBJECTIVE

to analyze the use of the Practical Approach to Care Kit as a technology adopted in nurses' clinical practice for HIV management in Primary Health Care.

METHOD

an exploratory and descriptive research study anchored in the methodological framework of the Constructivist Grounded Theory. The participants were defined through initial sampling, with 12 nurses, and theoretical sampling, with five managers, totaling 17 participants. The data were collected by means of intensive interviews and documentary analysis, and they were analyzed in two stages: 1) Initial coding; and 2) Focused coding.

RESULTS

the professionals identified the Practical Approach to Care Kit as a technological innovation that contributed to expanding the clinical practice and to empowering nurses in the clinical management of HIV infection. They also highlighted its importance as a tool for guiding the different responsibilities and duties while sharing care, contributing to the provision of evidence-based practices.

CONCLUSION

The Practical Approach to Care Kit is a technological innovation that has transformed nurses' clinical practice in HIV management, expanding their scope of activities in carrying out the diagnosis, assessing the health condition and counseling, evaluating adherence to the treatment, adverse effects and prescription of exams, medications, and immunobiological.

Revamping of Chronic Respiratory Diseases in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) endure an asymmetrically high burden of worldwide disease and death caused by chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs), i.e., asthma, emphysema, bronchiectasis, and post-tuberculosis lung disease (PTLD). CRDs are firmly related with indigence, infectious diseases, and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and add to complex multi-disease with great impact on the lives and livelihood of those affected. The pertinence of CRDs to health and demographic wellbeing is relied upon to increment in the long time ahead, as expectations of life rise and the contending dangers of right on time youth mortality and irresistible infections level. The WHO has distinguished the counteraction and control of NCDs as an earnest improvement issue and crucial for the sustainable development goals (SDSs) by 2030. In this review, we center on CRDs in LMICs. We examine the early life roots of CRDs, challenges in their avoidance, identification and administration in LMICs, and the pathways to resolve for accomplish valid widespread wellbeing inclusion.

Improving lung health in low-income and middle-income countries: from challenges to solutions

Low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) bear a disproportionately high burden of the global morbidity and mortality caused by chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs), including asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchiectasis, and post-tuberculosis lung disease. CRDs are strongly associated with poverty, infectious diseases, and other non-communicable diseases (NCDs), and contribute to complex multi-morbidity, with major consequences for the lives and livelihoods of those affected. The relevance of CRDs to health and socioeconomic wellbeing is expected to increase in the decades ahead, as life expectancies rise and the competing risks of early childhood mortality and infectious diseases plateau. As such, the World Health Organization has identified the prevention and control of NCDs as an urgent development issue and essential to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. In this Review, we focus on CRDs in LMICs. We discuss the early life origins of CRDs; challenges in their prevention, diagnosis, and management in LMICs; and pathways to solutions to achieve true universal health coverage.

Improving primary care management of asthma: do we know what really works?

Asthma imposes a substantial burden on individuals and societies. Patients with asthma need high-quality primary care management; however, evidence suggests the quality of this care can be highly variable. Here we identify and report factors contributing to high-quality management. Twelve primary care global asthma experts, representing nine countries, identified key factors. A literature review (past 10 years) was performed to validate or refute the expert viewpoint. Key driving factors identified were: policy, clinical guidelines, rewards for performance, practice organisation and workforce. Further analysis established the relevant factor components. Review evidence supported the validity of each driver; however, impact on patient outcomes was uncertain. Single interventions (e.g. healthcare practitioner education) showed little effect; interventions driven by national policy (e.g. incentive schemes and teamworking) were more effective. The panel's opinion, supported by literature review, concluded that multiple primary care interventions offer greater benefit than any single intervention in asthma management.

Cuidado compartilhado de pessoas vivendo com HIV/AIDS na Atenção Primária

Introdução: Buscando instituir ações para prevenir e reduzir a transmissão, melhorar o acesso ao tratamento e a qualidade de vida das pessoas vivendo com HIV/AIDS (PVHIV), a rede municipal de saúde de Florianópolis implantou entre 2015 e 2016 uma nova forma de suporte em Infectologia para a Atenção Primária a Saúde (APS). Objetivo: Descrever os resultados encontrados no município no processo de descentralização e cuidado compartilhado de pessoas vivendo com HIV/AIDS (PVHIV) com a APS de Florianópolis. Métodos: Trata-se de um estudo observacional, transversal e descritivo. Os dados foram obtidos de relatórios do prontuário eletrônico local e a partir de questionário estruturado aplicado junto aos médicos da APS de Florianópolis. Resultados: Entre 2014 e 2018, o número de atendimentos na APS relacionados ao cuidado de PVHIV teve um aumento expressivo, sobretudo após 2016, acompanhado de uma redução de 45,7% na proporção de encaminhamentos para infectologia após a implantação do apoio matricial em infectologia. Aliada à redução da taxa de encaminhamento evidenciou-se a habilidade na prescrição de Terapia Antirretroviral (TARV) por 100% dos médicos da APS entrevistados. Em relação à situação de acompanhamento de PVHIV, exclusivamente sob cuidados da APS, foi encontrada diferença estatisticamente significante entre os médicos que fazem preceptoria em ensino na graduação e residência e os que são residentes ou tem formação específica em medicina de família e comunidade (MFC) em relação aos médicos sem formação específica. A proporção de médicos que se sentem seguros e confiantes em realizar esse tipo de atendimento na APS também foi significativamente maior entre os médicos que fazem preceptoria e são médicos de família e comunidade. Conclusões: A implantação do Apoio Matricial da Infectologia para a APS trouxe grande avanço para o município de Florianópolis, no que tange ao acesso e qualificação do cuidado das pessoas vivendo com HIV/AIDS. Os resultados foram mais significativos para os profissionais envolvidos com atividades de preceptoria e formação específica em MFC, o que reforça o papel da educação permanente na qualificação da coordenação do cuidado pela APS.

Addressing the quality and scope of paediatric primary care in South Africa: evaluating contextual impacts of the introduction of the Practical Approach to Care Kit for children (PACK Child)

Background

Despite significant reductions in mortality, preventable and treatable conditions remain leading causes of death and illness in children in South Africa. The PACK Child intervention, comprising clinical decision support tool (guide), training strategy and health systems strengthening components, was developed to expand on WHO’s Integrated Management of Childhood Illness programme, extending care of children under 5 years to those aged 0–13 years, those with chronic conditions needing regular follow-up, integration of curative and preventive measures and routine care of the well child. In 2017–2018, PACK Child was piloted in 10 primary healthcare facilities in the Western Cape Province. Here we report findings from an investigation into the contextual features of South African primary care that shaped how clinicians delivered the PACK Child intervention within clinical consultations.

Methods

Process evaluation using linguistic ethnographic methodology which provides analytical tools for investigating human behaviour, and the shifting meaning of talk and text within context. Methods included semi-structured interviews, focus groups, ethnographic observation, audio-recorded consultations and documentary analysis. Analysis focused on how mapped contextual features structured clinician-caregiver interactions.

Results

Primary healthcare facilities demonstrated an institutionalised orientation to minimising risk upheld by provincial documentation, providing curative episodic care to children presenting with acute symptoms, and preventive care including immunisations, feeding and growth monitoring, all in children 5 years or younger. Children with chronic illnesses such as asthma rarely receive routine care. These contextual features constrained the ability of clinicians to use the PACK Child guide to facilitate diagnosis of long-term conditions, elicit and manage psychosocial issues, and navigate use of the guide alongside provincial documentation.

Conclusion

Our findings provide evidence that PACK Child is catalysing a transition to an approach that strikes a balance between assessing and minimising risk on the day of acute presentation and a larger remit of care for children over time. However, optimising success of the intervention requires reviewing priorities for paediatric care which will facilitate enhanced skills, knowledge and deployment of clinical staff to better address acute illnesses and long-term health conditions of children of all ages, as well as complex psychosocial issues surrounding the child.

Effects of PACK guide training on the management of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease by primary care clinicians: a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial in Florianópolis, Brazil

Introduction

The Practical Approach to Care Kit (PACK) guide was localised for Brazil, where primary care doctors and nurses were trained to use it.

Methods

Twenty-four municipal clinics in Florianópolis were randomly allocated to receive outreach training and the guide, and 24 were allocated to receive only the guide. 6666 adult patients with asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were enrolled, and trial outcomes were measured over 12 months, using electronic medical records. The primary outcomes were composite scores of treatment changes and spirometry, and new asthma and COPD diagnosis rates.

Results

Asthma scores in 2437 intervention group participants were higher (74.8%, 20.4% and 4.8% with scores of 0, 1 and 2, respectively) than in 2633 control group participants (80.0%, 16.8% and 3.2%) (OR for higher score 1.32, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.61, p=0.006). Adjusted for asthma scores recorded in each clinic before training started, the OR was 1.24 (95% CI 1.03 to 1.50, p=0.022). COPD scores in 1371 intervention group participants (77.7%, 17.9% and 4.3% with scores of 0, 1 and 2) did not differ from those in 1181 control group participants (80.5%, 15.8% and 3.7%) (OR 1.21, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.55, p=0.142). Rates of new asthma and COPD diagnoses, and hospital admission, and indicators of investigation, diagnosis and treatment of comorbid cardiovascular disease, diabetes and depression, and tobacco cessation did not differ between trial arms.

Conclusion

PACK training increased guideline-based treatment and spirometry for asthma but did not affect COPD or comorbid conditions, or diagnosis rates.

Trial registration

NCT02786030 (https://clinicaltrials.gov/).

Portuguese (Brazil) Introdução

O guia de Abordagem Prática do Kit de Cuidados em Saúde (PACK) foi adaptado para o sistema de saúde do Brasil; médicos e enfermeiros da atenção primária foram treinados para usá-lo na pratica clínica.

Métodos

Vinte e quatro unidades básicas de saúde (UBS) municipais de Florianópolis foram alocadas aleatoriamente para receber treinamento nas UBS utilizando o guia, e 24 foram alocadas para receber apenas o guia. Foram analisados dados de 6.666 pacientes adultos com asma ou doença pulmonar obstrutiva crônica (DPOC) e os desfechos foram medidos por doze meses, através de registros médicos eletrônicos. Os resultados principais foram escores compostos de mudança no tratamento, realização de espirometria e taxas de novos diagnósticos de asma e DPOC.

Resultados

os escores de asma em 2437 participantes do grupo de intervenção foram maiores (74,8%, 20,4% e 4,8% com escores de 0, 1 e 2 respectivamente) do que em 2633 participantes do grupo controle (80,0%, 16,8% e 3,2%) (odds ratio (OR) para pontuação mais alta 1,32, intervalo de confiança de 95% (IC) 1,08-1,61, p = 0,006). Ajustado para os escores de asma registrados em cada clínica antes do início do treinamento, o OR foi de 1,24 (IC 95% 1,03-1,50, p = 0,022). Os escores da DPOC em 1371 participantes do grupo de intervenção (77,7%, 17,9% e 4,3% com escores de 0, 1 e 2) não diferiram dos de 1181 participantes do grupo controle (80,5%, 15,8% e 3,7%) (OR 1,21 (IC95% 0,94-1,55, p = 0,142) As taxas de novos diagnósticos de asma e DPOC, internação hospitalar e indicadores de diagnóstico e tratamento de co-morbidades cardiovasculares, diabete, depressão e cessação do tabagismo não diferiram entre os grupos experimentais.

Conclusão

O treinamento com PACK aumentou o tratamento baseado em diretrizes e espirometria para asma, mas não afetou as co-morbidades em DPOC ou as taxas de diagnóstico.

Desenvolvimento de um guia rápido para prática de atenção à saúde da população transgênero

Problema: Os direitos fundamentais das pessoas transgênero são negados cotidianamente. Neste cenário, o preconceito age como determinante social de saúde impactando na prevalência de problemas como saúde mental e infecções sexualmente transmissíveis (ISTs). O objetivo foi o desenvolvimento de um sumário de evidências para apoiar o atendimento clínico e embasar a capacitação dos profissionais da Atenção Primária de Saúde de Florianópolis - SC, a fim de melhorar os resultados de saúde dessa população. Métodos: Baseado na ferramenta PACK – interface acessível e intuitiva no modelo pergunte, solicite, aconselhe e trate – já implementada no município de Florianópolis. O método de revisão rápida foi utilizado para busca de evidência, priorizando sumários de prática clínica e protocolos internacionais. Fontes primárias foram utilizadas quando os dados anteriores eram insuficientes ou conflitantes. As perguntas de pesquisa seguiram o acrônimo PICO e a recomendação foi classificada de acordo com a adaptação GRADE do Center of Excellence for Transegender Health. Resultados: Foi criado o Guia Rápido para Prática de Atenção à Saúde da População Transgênero aos moldes do PACK Brasil. O mesmo aguarda aprovação do PACK Brasil e do Ambulatório de Atenção Integral à População Transexual de Florianópolis para futura incorporação do material. Conclusão: Apesar da falta de evidência de qualidade e estudos voltados para a população específica, a existência de diretrizes nesse campo legitima a necessidade de atenção à saúde transgênero, além de auxiliar profissionais de saúde e formuladores de políticas sobre como atender a essas necessidades. Na perspectiva de redução de danos, devemos transpor a barreira do estigma social e institucional para produção de diretrizes consensuais em busca de equidade para população transgênero.

Assistência obstétrica/neonatal: ampliação da prática clínica do enfermeiro na Atenção Primária

Resumo Objetivo Compreender o significado da ampliação da prática clínica do enfermeiro na atenção obstétrica e neonatal no contexto da atenção primária. Métodos Pesquisa qualitativa, com o referencial teórico filosófico do Pensamento Complexo de Edgar Morin e com o referencial metodológico da Teoria Fundamentada nos Dados. As etapas de coleta, análise e construção da teoria ocorreram em sequências alternadas, entre setembro de 2016 a setembro de 2017. A saturação teórica dos dados ocorreu com a inclusão de 11 entrevistas individuais com enfermeiras da atenção primária e com quatro observações participantes. Os dados foram organizados por meio do software NVIVO10® e analisados em três etapas: codificação aberta, axial e integração. Resultados Emergiu o fenômeno central “Provocando mudanças na atuação do enfermeiro da atenção primária” e a três categorias: Compreendendo os significados da gestão do cuidado de Enfermagem na atenção primária; lidando com o movimento antagonista e regulador que influencia a qualidade e melhorando a qualidade para promover a resolutividade da atenção primária. Conclusão Os significados do movimento de liderança em prol da ampliação da prática clínica do enfermeiro na Atenção Primária relacionam-se com: as resistências na postura de alguns profissionais, a inconstância de recursos humanos e materiais, mas, sobretudo, com a busca pela essência do cuidar.

e-PC101: an electronic clinical decision support tool developed in South Africa for primary care in low-income and middle-income countries

Health technology is increasingly recognised as a feasible method of addressing health needs in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Primary Care 101, now known as PACK (Practical Approach to Care Kit), is a printed, algorithmic, checklist-based, comprehensive clinical decision support tool. It assists clinicians with delivering evidence-based medicine for common primary care presentations and conditions. These assessment and treatment guides have been adopted widely in primary care clinics across South Africa. This paper focuses on the process of designing, developing, and implementing a digital version of the clinical decision support tool for use on a tablet computer. Lessons learnt throughout its development and pilot implementation could apply to the creation of electronic health interventions and the digitisation of clinical tools in LMICs.

Crossing borders: the PACK experience of spreading a complex health system intervention across low-income and middle-income countries

Developing a health system intervention that helps to improve primary care in a low-income and middle-income country (LMIC) is a considerable challenge; finding ways to spread that intervention to other LMICs is another. The Practical Approach to Care Kit (PACK) programme is a complex health system intervention that has been developed and adopted as policy in South Africa to improve and standardise primary care delivery. We have successfully spread PACK to several other LMICs, including Botswana, Brazil, Nigeria and Ethiopia. This paper describes our experiences of localising and implementing PACK in these countries, and our evolving mentorship model of localisation that entails our unit providing mentorship support to an in-country team to ensure that the programme is tailored to local resource constraints, burden of disease and on-the-ground realities. The iterative nature of the model's development meant that with each country experience, we could refine both the mentorship package and the programme itself with lessons from one country applied to the next-a 'learning health system' with global reach. While not yet formally evaluated, we appear to have created a feasible model for taking our health system intervention across more borders.

PACK Child: the development of a practical guide to extend the scope of integrated primary care for children and young adolescents

Pioneering strategies like WHO's Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) have resulted in substantial progress in addressing infant and child mortality. However, large inequalities exist in access to and the quality of care provided in different regions of the world. In many low-income and middle-income countries, childhood mortality remains a major concern, and the needs of children present a large burden upon primary care services. The capacity of services and quality of care offered require greater support to address these needs and extend integrated curative and preventive care, specifically, for the well child, the child with a long-term health need and the child older than 5 years, not currently included in IMCI. In response to these needs, we have developed an innovative method, based on experience with a similar approach in adults, that expands the scope and reach of integrated management and training programmes for paediatric primary care. This paper describes the development and key features of the PACK Child clinical decision support tool for the care of children up to 13 years, and lessons learnt during its development.

Using a mentorship model to localise the Practical Approach to Care Kit (PACK): from South Africa to Nigeria

Nigeria, in its quest to strengthen its primary healthcare system, is faced with a number of challenges including a shortage of clinicians and skills. Methods are being sought to better equip primary healthcare clinicians for the clinical demands that they face. Using a mentorship model between developers in South Africa and Nigerian clinicians, the Practical Approach to Care Kit (PACK) for adult patients, a health systems strengthening programme, has been localised and piloted in 51 primary healthcare facilities in three Nigerian states. Lessons learnt from this experience include the value of this remote model of localisation for rapid localisation, the importance of early, continuous stakeholder engagement, the need expressed by Nigeria's primary healthcare clinicians for clinical guidance that is user friendly and up-to-date, a preference for the tablet version of the PACK Adult guide over hard copies and the added value of WhatsApp groups to complement the programme of face-to-face continuous learning. Introduction of the PACK programme in Nigeria prompted uptake of evidence-informed recommendations within primary healthcare services.

The Practical Approach to Care Kit (PACK) guide: developing a clinical decision support tool to simplify, standardise and strengthen primary healthcare delivery

For the primary health worker in a low/middle-income country (LMIC) setting, delivering quality primary care is challenging. This is often complicated by clinical guidance that is out of date, inconsistent and informed by evidence from high-income countries that ignores LMIC resource constraints and burden of disease. The Knowledge Translation Unit (KTU) of the University of Cape Town Lung Institute has developed, implemented and evaluated a health systems intervention in South Africa, and localised it to Botswana, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Brazil, that simplifies and standardises the care delivered by primary health workers while strengthening the system in which they work. At the core of this intervention, called Practical Approach to Care Kit (PACK), is a clinical decision support tool, the PACK guide. This paper describes the development of the guide over an 18-year period and explains the design features that have addressed what the patient, the clinician and the health system need from clinical guidance, and have made it, in the words of a South African primary care nurse, 'A tool for every day for every patient'. It describes the lessons learnt during the development process that the KTU now applies to further development, maintenance and in-country localisation of the guide: develop clinical decision support in context first, involve local stakeholders in all stages, leverage others' evidence databases to remain up to date and ensure content development, updating and localisation articulate with implementation.