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Study Objectives: To assess the patient safety culture in Primary Health Care (PHC) setting after the transition to the Family Health Strategy (FHS) model in a Brazilian metropolitan area and compare the results between the categories of health care professionals., Methods: A cross-sectional study including 246 workers from primary health care services in Federal District, Brazil. Data collection took place from October to December 2019 through the Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture (MOSPSC) application. Patient safety culture was considered positive when the score was above 60%. For comparisons between the categories of health care professionals', the ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis test were used for composite percent positive scores, and Pearson's chi-square or Fishers exact test for frequency and percentage of positive responses., Results: The overall MOSPSC composite percent positive score was 49.9%. Among the 12 dimensions, only three showed a positive patient safety culture: Teamwork (73.1%), Organizational learning (62.9%), and Patient care tracking/follow-up (60.1%). The percentage of positive responses on overall quality assessment (78.1%) and overall patient safety assessment (78.0%) showed a positive evaluation. There was no significant difference in the composite percent positive score of overall MOSPSC (p = 0.135) and the percentage of positive responses on overall patient safety assessment (p = 0.156) between the categories of health care professionals. Overall quality assessment showed a significant difference between job roles (p < 0.001), in which nursing /health care technicians showed a significantly lower score than other job roles., Conclusion: The patient safety culture assessment showed a weakness in the patient safety in the PHC services. The MOSPSC and nine of its dimensions presented a negative safety culture assessment, regardless of the high scores in the overall patient safety and quality assessments., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Objectives: Affirmative action providing higher education access for socially vulnerable students has been implemented in several countries. However, these policies remain controversial. This study compares the performance of students admitted through the regular path and social quota systems, during and after completion of nursing education, in a public nursing school in Brazil., Methods: This retrospective cohort study included all students admitted to nursing school at the School of Health Sciences (ESCS), Brazil, between 2009 and 2014, who were followed until May 2020. The first phase involved document analysis from the ESCS academic management system and Brazilian government agencies. In the second phase, a survey was conducted among the alumni. The social quota system criterion was public school attendance across all primary and secondary education levels., Results: Of the 448 students included in the study, 178 (39.7%) were from the affirmative action and 270 (60.3%) from the regular path systems. Affirmative action students were older at the time of nursing school admission (p < 0.001) and took longer to be admitted to the nursing school (p < 0.001) after completing high school. There were no significant differences in the dropout rates and years to complete nursing school. In the second phase, 108 alumni answered the survey. No significant differences were found in their participation in the undergraduate scientific research program and university extension projects, attending residency programs, getting a master's degree and doctoral degree, monthly income, teaching activity, joining public service through a government job competition process, participation in management activities in the private and public health sector, and degree of job satisfaction., Conclusion: Our results revealed that affirmative action is a policy that contributes to the reduction of inequalities and guarantees the training of nursing professionals with a similar professional qualification received through affirmative action and regular path systems., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Study Objectives: To determine the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in adults with Down syndrome (DS), to investigate factors related to OSA severity and to identify which sleep questionnaire is the most appropriate for the screening of OSA in this population., Methods: Cross-sectional study that consecutively included 60 adults with DS. All patients underwent type III polysomnography and clinical and laboratory data were collected; sleep assessment questionnaires were applied. Multiple linear regression models evaluated the associations between OSA severity (measured by the respiratory event index-REI) and clinical and laboratory data and sleep questionnaires (Epworth Sleepiness Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, BERLIN and STOP-Bang questionnaires)., Results: Results show that 60 (100%) adults with DS had OSA, with moderate-severe OSA identified in 49 (81.6%). At the multivariate linear regression, REI significantly correlated with hematocrit levels, BMI and STOP-Bang questionnaire (SBQ) results (P <0.001). The positive STOP-Bang ≥3 points) showed 100% of sensitivity (95%CI: 92.75-100%), 45.45% of specificity (95%CI: 16.75-76.62), positive predictive value of 89.09% (95%CI: 82.64-93.34%), negative predictive value of 100%, accuracy of 90% (95%CI: 79.49-96.24%) and OR of 24.29., Conclusions: Adults with DS have a very high prevalence of OSA. Hematocrit levels, BMI and SBQ showed a strong correlation with OSA severity. The SBQ performed well in identifying moderate to severe OSA in this population. Considered together, these results point to the need to perform OSA screening in all adults with DS, and STOP-Bang may play a role in this screening., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.