Acta Medica Port
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Review Practice Guideline
[Recommendations about the Use of Psychotropic Medications during the COVID-19 Pandemic].
The COVID-19 pandemic is a particularly relevant threat to mentally ill patients, and it constitutes a new challenge for health care providers. To the best of our knowledge, there is not any embracing published review about the use of psychotropic drugs during the COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ The COVID-19 pandemic has created new challenges in clinical practice. Psychiatric patients are a vulnerable population and often a careful clinical, laboratorial and electrocardiographic evaluation may be needed, particularly in those diagnosed with COVID-19. The regular treatment of mentally ill patients with COVID-19 presents increased complexity.
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In Portugal, patients still believe they should perform a periodic check-up. The present study was designed to study the prescription pattern of "routine" laboratory tests in the Family practice in Portugal. ⋯ Our results suggest that there is an excessive request of laboratory tests which can lead to overdiagnosis and overtreatment that requires global Social Marketing strategies to change the prevailing culture.
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Scientific evidence regarding children's understanding of the concept of death is scarce. This has recently been pointed out by the International Children's Palliative Care Network as a priority area of research. In particular, the avoidance of emotion in this area of research is an important shortcoming. This study aims to develop an in-depth view of the emotional dimension of the child's understanding of death, also seeking to relate it to the cognitive dimension. ⋯ This study provides valuable information to health professionals and other interested adults about the way preschoolers position themselves in relation to death.
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Candida auris was first described as a new species back in 2009. Although it differs markedly from other Candida species, this species can be misidentified as other yeasts in the routine microbiology laboratories. Therefore, its identification to species level should be confirmed by reference laboratories. ⋯ In Portugal, to our knowledge, there are no known infections or colonization cases caused by Candida auris. This species can survive in the environment for several weeks and once introduced into the hospital environment, the risk of transmission is high, requiring strict infection control measures in order to prevent transmission. This paper intends to raise the awareness of the emergence of this fungal species, as well as to discuss the consequences of this situation.