The role of the first level of health care in the approach to Chagas disease in a non-endemic country.
BACKGROUND:Chagas disease has crossed South America's borders and in recent years has spread to regions that were not previously affected. Early diagnosis and treatment of Chagas disease improves the clinical prognosis and prevents vertical transmission. Taking into account the lack of evidence...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:b001505da9c14877a045170587ff584e 2023-05-15T15:13:33+02:00 The role of the first level of health care in the approach to Chagas disease in a non-endemic country. Laura Iglesias-Rus María Romay-Barja Teresa Boquete Agustín Benito Teresa Blasco-Hernández 2019-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007937 https://doaj.org/article/b001505da9c14877a045170587ff584e EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007937 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0007937 https://doaj.org/article/b001505da9c14877a045170587ff584e PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 13, Iss 12, p e0007937 (2019) Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2019 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007937 2022-12-31T06:00:22Z BACKGROUND:Chagas disease has crossed South America's borders and in recent years has spread to regions that were not previously affected. Early diagnosis and treatment of Chagas disease improves the clinical prognosis and prevents vertical transmission. Taking into account the lack of evidence of how primary care services manage Chagas disease in a non-endemic country, this study assessed Chagas disease knowledge, attitudes and practices among primary health care professionals. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:Between 2017 and 2019, eight focus groups were formed with 41 family physicians and 40 nurses from healthcare centers in Madrid, Spain, and 70 field notes were collected during non-participant observation. The family physicians and nurses showed a lack of general knowledge about Chagas disease, and they did not identify the country of origin to request the blood test. The family physicians and nurses thought that the population did not talk broadly about Chagas disease because of the stigma or shame. The role of nurses was more focused on vaccination status and chronic disease follow-up, and family physicians assumed a facilitating role to send patients to different hospital facilities. Communication between primary care professionals and the hospital is a barrier frequently experienced by family physicians. CONCLUSIONS:The diagnosis of CD in non-endemic countries continues being an important challenge for health systems. The results obtained with the study of the knowledge, attitudes and practices at primary care through a qualitative approach allows to obtain evidence that could help to develop strategies for the screening of CD in a protocolized way in order to avoid that the diagnosis depends exclusively on the request of the patient. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 13 12 e0007937 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
spellingShingle |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Laura Iglesias-Rus María Romay-Barja Teresa Boquete Agustín Benito Teresa Blasco-Hernández The role of the first level of health care in the approach to Chagas disease in a non-endemic country. |
topic_facet |
Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
BACKGROUND:Chagas disease has crossed South America's borders and in recent years has spread to regions that were not previously affected. Early diagnosis and treatment of Chagas disease improves the clinical prognosis and prevents vertical transmission. Taking into account the lack of evidence of how primary care services manage Chagas disease in a non-endemic country, this study assessed Chagas disease knowledge, attitudes and practices among primary health care professionals. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:Between 2017 and 2019, eight focus groups were formed with 41 family physicians and 40 nurses from healthcare centers in Madrid, Spain, and 70 field notes were collected during non-participant observation. The family physicians and nurses showed a lack of general knowledge about Chagas disease, and they did not identify the country of origin to request the blood test. The family physicians and nurses thought that the population did not talk broadly about Chagas disease because of the stigma or shame. The role of nurses was more focused on vaccination status and chronic disease follow-up, and family physicians assumed a facilitating role to send patients to different hospital facilities. Communication between primary care professionals and the hospital is a barrier frequently experienced by family physicians. CONCLUSIONS:The diagnosis of CD in non-endemic countries continues being an important challenge for health systems. The results obtained with the study of the knowledge, attitudes and practices at primary care through a qualitative approach allows to obtain evidence that could help to develop strategies for the screening of CD in a protocolized way in order to avoid that the diagnosis depends exclusively on the request of the patient. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Laura Iglesias-Rus María Romay-Barja Teresa Boquete Agustín Benito Teresa Blasco-Hernández |
author_facet |
Laura Iglesias-Rus María Romay-Barja Teresa Boquete Agustín Benito Teresa Blasco-Hernández |
author_sort |
Laura Iglesias-Rus |
title |
The role of the first level of health care in the approach to Chagas disease in a non-endemic country. |
title_short |
The role of the first level of health care in the approach to Chagas disease in a non-endemic country. |
title_full |
The role of the first level of health care in the approach to Chagas disease in a non-endemic country. |
title_fullStr |
The role of the first level of health care in the approach to Chagas disease in a non-endemic country. |
title_full_unstemmed |
The role of the first level of health care in the approach to Chagas disease in a non-endemic country. |
title_sort |
role of the first level of health care in the approach to chagas disease in a non-endemic country. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007937 https://doaj.org/article/b001505da9c14877a045170587ff584e |
geographic |
Arctic |
geographic_facet |
Arctic |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 13, Iss 12, p e0007937 (2019) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007937 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2727 https://doaj.org/toc/1935-2735 1935-2727 1935-2735 doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0007937 https://doaj.org/article/b001505da9c14877a045170587ff584e |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007937 |
container_title |
PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
e0007937 |
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1766344093007347712 |