Vaccination, breastfeeding and the main guidelines to ensure the healthy development of the baby in the first months of life. These were some of the topics discussed by preceptors from the Santos Dumont Institute (ISD) with nurses from the Macaíba primary health care network on the morning of this Friday, October 22nd. The professionals went through the fourth permanent education module offered by the Institute in partnership with Macaíba City Hall, which this time focused on children's health.

“We address the issue of childcare in the nurses' routine care: aspects related to updating the child's health record, approaches and strengthening the bond between children and their parents with the unit…”, explains the ISD nursing preceptor, Monise Pontes, one of those responsible for the action. In total, 24 professionals participated in the continuing education activity, one of the areas of activity of the Anita Garibaldi Health Education and Research Center (Anita), one of the ISD units.

Childcare is a program that focuses on promoting and preventing children's health. Through a routine of consultations and periodic examinations, professionals analyze issues relating to physical health, immunization, nutritional and psychological issues, as a method of prevention and early identification of possible changes in their development. Furthermore, the practice aims to guide the child's caregivers and guardians to improve monitoring of their intellectual and emotional development. 

Vaccination, for example, was one of the central points addressed by the nurses, who reinforced the importance of monitoring the card by teams at basic units. “We saw that, during the pandemic, we had a very high rate of absenteeism among children in basic units. We commented on strategies to bring these children to the units to update their vaccination schedules, to carry out an active search, to take advantage of this child's time in the unit to observe this issue of vaccines, because some diseases that were no longer occurring are now returning. happen, largely due to the issue of vaccination”, explains Monise. 

Anita promotes periodic educational activities in its areas of specialty, which cover maternal and child health and people with disabilities. In 2021, topics ranging from epilepsy case management, family planning and autism have already been covered. The objective is to improve care at the main gateway to the public health service, which are the basic units. Through continuing education, professionals will be better able to identify, diagnose and better care for these patients. 

This action is possible thanks to an agreement signed between the ISD and Macaíba City Hall. The themes of the classes were chosen together with the nurses from the Family Health Strategy (ESF), who pointed out to the preceptors the main daily demands they face in the city's health units. The meetings with the Macaíba group began in August, and should continue until November.