OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the relationship between the behaviors of salt consumption and socio-demographic and clinical variables. METHOD: sodium consumption was evaluated using the methods: self-reporting (considering 3 different behaviors related to salt consumption), 24- hr dietary recall, discretionary salt, food frequency questionnaire, estimation of total sodium intake and 24-hr urinary excretion of sodium (n=108). RESULTS: elevated salt intake according to the different measurements of consumption of the nutrient was associated with the variables: male sex, low level of schooling and monthly income, being Caucasian, and being professionally inactive; and with the clinical variables: elevated Body Mass Index, tensional levels, ventricular hypertrophy and the number of medications used. CONCLUSION: the data obtained shows a heterogenous association between the different behaviors related to salt consumption and the socio-demographic and clinical variables. This data can be used to optimize the directing of educational activities with a view to reducing salt consumption among hypertensives.

OBJECTIVE: to analyze the social inequalities in the distribution of perinatal mortality in Belo Horizonte. MATERIAL AND METHODS: the perinatal deaths of residents in Belo Horizonte in the period 2003 to 2007 were studied on the basis of the Information Systems on Mortality and Newborns. The space analysis and the Health Vulnerability Index were used to identify existing inequalities in the sanitary districts regarding coverage and risk, determined by the Odds Ratio and a value p<0.05. The multivariate analysis was used to describe a model for perinatal mortality. RESULTS: there was a proved variation in the numbers of perinatal mortality per one thousand total births in the sanitary districts (12.5 to 19.4), coverage areas (5.3 to 49.4) and areas of risk (13.2 to 20.7). The mortality rate diminished as the maternal schooling increased. The death rates deriving from asphyxia/hypoxia and non-specified fetal death grew with the increase of risk in the area. CONCLUSION: it was verified that the perinatal deaths are distributed in a differentiated form in relation to the space and the social vulnerabilities. The confrontation of this complex problem requires the establishment of intersecting partnerships.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims at translating and validating the content of the instrument Conditions of Work Effectiveness - Questionnaire-II (CWEQ-II), developed by Laschinger, Finegan, Shamian and Wilk, modified from the original CWEQ for the Brazilian culture. METHOD: the methodological procedure consisted of the stages of translation of the instrument into the Portuguese language; back-translation; semantic, idiomatic and cultural equivalence and tests of the final version. The instrument in the Portuguese version was applied to a group of 40 nurses in two hospitals. RESULTS: the data resulted in a Cronbach's Alpha of 0.86 for the first hospital and 0.88 for the second one. The results of the factorial analysis are considered sufficiently satisfactory. CONCLUSION: It is to conclude that the instrument can be used in Brazil.

OBJECTIVE: this study was aimed at analyzing the participation of a committee formed by representatives of the community in tuberculosis control based on a participatory management model. METHOD: this is a Case Study involving a tuberculosis committee with data collected through semi-structured interviews conducted with nine individuals. The data, organized through the Association of Ideas Map technique, were analyzed based on the Social Constructionism perspective. RESULTS: the participation of the Tuberculosis Committee studied was shown to be effective and associated with aspects articulated according to the measures taken by the social parties involved in the committee, culminating with assistances inserted into certain parts of the town's co-management. CONCLUSION: it was concluded that the reality of this case study shows that relationships among civil society can guide the management model in the search for effective processes of tuberculosis control.

OBJECTIVE: to estimate the sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values of the Unified Health System's Hospital Information System for the appropriate recording of hospitalizations for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions. METHOD: the hospital information system records for conditions which are sensitive to ambulatory care, and for those which are not, were considered for analysis, taking the medical records as the gold standard. Through simple random sampling, a sample of 816 medical records was defined and selected by means of a list of random numbers using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. RESULT: the sensitivity was 81.89%, specificity was 95.19%, the positive predictive value was 77.61% and the negative predictive value was 96.27%. In the study setting, the Hospital Information System (SIH) was more specific than sensitive, with nearly 20% of care sensitive conditions not detected. CONCLUSION: there are no validation studies in Brazil of the Hospital Information System records for the hospitalizations which are sensitive to primary health care. These results are relevant when one considers that this system is one of the bases for assessment of the effectiveness of primary health care.

OBJECTIVE: to identify and classify the degree of family risk in a Family Health Center by means of a multidimensional evaluation instrument. METHOD: a cross-sectional study, with a quantitative and descriptive design, which evaluated 927 families registered in the center, which covers five micro-areas. The Coelho and Savassi Scale was applied, this consisting of 13 sentinels of evaluation of the social risk, using secondary data available in the File A of the families' medical records, in the last trimester of 2011. The data was analyzed using the SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) for Windows software, version 18.0. RESULTS: among the families studied, 68.5% were classified as not being at risk. It was ascertained that the smallest proportion of at-risk families (8.2%) was found in micro-area 1, and that micro-area 4 had the highest proportion (55.9%). The most-prevalent risk situations were poor conditions of basic sanitation, systemic arterial hypertension, diabetes mellitus and drug addiction. CONCLUSION: this study's results make it possible to create support for the planning of home visits, to implement health surveillance actions, and for health professionals to better understand the vulnerabilities of the families attended.

OBJECTIVE: to characterize the intensity of the support needs of individuals with severe mental illness. METHODS: quantitative and descriptive study that applied the Supports Intensity Scale to a sample comprising 182 individuals. RESULTS: the supports intensity profile identifies groups, individuals, and areas with different needs of support relative to the domains of home living, health, community living, learning, employment, and social living. As a whole, the intensity level of support needs found was low, and the domains with greater needs were employment and social. CONCLUSIONS: identification of the intensity of support needs is helpful in planning integral care and detecting professional training needs. The support provision-centered approach, associated with the person-related outcomes perspective, has been sparsely applied to individuals with mental illness, and this represents the main contribution of the present study. In addition, this study introduces novel approaches to assessment that are both concordant and an innovation in nursing because they might provide a tool for understanding other disabilities.

OBJECTIVE: to assess, from the worker's viewpoint, the structure, the process and the results of the Emergency Hospital Services that have taken up the guideline of "Welcoming with Risk Classification" in two teaching hospitals of the state of Paraná. METHOD: quantitative and descriptive research, exploratory and prospective, using random sampling stratified by professional category, comprising a universe of 216 professional people. RESULTS: they found some points of agreement regarding the promotion of a welcoming and humane environment; privacy and security; welcome and shelter of the companion and also the sheltering and classification of all patients; however, there was disagreement about the comfort of the environment, reference system and counter-reference, prioritisation of seriously ill patients in post-classification service, communication between the members of the multi-professional team and reassessment of the guideline. CONCLUSION: the workers assess the development of the guideline as being precarious, due mainly to the lack of physical structure, due to the lack of physical structure and shortcomings in the service process.

OBJECTIVE: to interpret the meanings of the experience of the condition and of the treatment among people with arterial hypertension. METHOD: the authors adopted the frames of reference of interpretive and medical anthropology and of the ethnographic method. 22 people with arterial hypertension, and 10 Family Health Strategy health workers, all from Minas Gerais, participated. The authors used interviews, participant observation, focus groups, field diaries and analysis of medical records. Ethical precepts were respected. RESULTS: two nuclei of meaning emerged: "The condition as an expression of way of living", and "The perspective of the cure of the condition". Nervous problems represent the nosological and symptomatic categories, caused by the urban way of living. The participants are supported by the belief of the curing of the problem. The family, spirituality and religion constitute social support networks. The therapeutic routes interpenetrate for the cure of the problem. The 'folk' health subsystem constitutes an important route because it provides better well-being and remission of the symptoms. CONCLUSION: the gaps evidenced between the points of view of the health professionals and the interviewees allow one to re-think the praxis so as to provide comprehensive, contextualized and humanized care, which encourages the people's potential for living, for empowerment, and for self-care.

OBJECTIVES: to establish the effectiveness of the public benefits and services of the "Chile Grows with You" and "Protect Network" programs for socially vulnerable women and children in an urban community in the Metropolitan Region of Chile. METHOD: Descriptive study employing a questionnaire. The sample consisted of 132 mothers and their 133 infants, all grouped according to social vulnerability. Primary data were collected via a structured interview of the mothers and were complemented with institutional (secondary) data. Descriptive and associative analyses were performed. RESULTS: the perception of social vulnerability by the professionals was low at the time of admission into the program. The effectiveness of the universal and specific benefits was low, with better results for the children than for the mothers. However, no significant differences were observed according to vulnerability. Another finding was the low access to specific benefits for children with psychosocial risk and psychomotor delay, especially in the most vulnerable group. CONCLUSION: the results revealed a gap in the access to the benefits guaranteed by law. To overcome this situation, nurses must strengthen their skills in contextualized health practices and the comprehensive administration of interdisciplinary and intersectoral networks.

OBJECTIVE: to investigate the relation between workplace accidents and the levels of carboxyhemoglobin found in motorcycle taxi drivers. METHOD: correlational, quantitative study involving 111 workers and data obtained in July 2012 through a questionnaire to characterize the participants and blood collection to measure carboxyhemoglobin levels. RESULT: 28.8% had suffered workplace accidents; 27.6% had fractured the lower limbs and significant symptoms of carbon monoxide exposure were verified in smokers. The carboxyhemoglobin levels were higher among smokers and victims of workplace accidents. CONCLUSION: motorcycle taxi drivers had increased levels of carboxyhemoglobin, possibly due to the exposure to carbon monoxide; these levels are also increased among smokers and victims of workplace accidents. The study provides advances in the knowledge about occupational health and environmental science, and also shows that carboxyhemoglobin can be an indicator of exposure to environmental pollutants for those working outdoors, which can be related to workplace accidents.

OBJECTIVE: to identify the actions, undertaken by nurse managers in a risk management program, considered as best practice. METHOD: a case study undertaken in a private hospital in the south of Brazil. A risk manager and nurse managers working in a risk management program participated in this study. The data was collected between May and September 2011 through analysis of documents, semi-structured interviews and non-participant observation. Based on the triangulation, the data was analyzed through practical measures. RESULTS: educational actions, the critical analysis of the context, and the multiple dimensions of the management were evidenced as best practice. CONCLUSIONS: the broadening of understanding regarding risk management best practice offers further support for nurse managers to achieve excellence in their actions and thus provide safe and quality care.