Palliative care strategies in the management of people with serious cases of COVID-19.

Objectives: to analyze the assistance strategies in palliative care developed in the COVID-19 pandemic for critically ill patients and their families.

Methods: an integrative review carried out in August 2021 and updated in April 2022 in the Base de Dados de Enfermagem (BDENF), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online (MEDLINE), US National Library of Medicine (PubMed), Web of Science databases, and presented in the PRISMA flowchart.

Results: thirteen works were selected for reading and content analysis, from which emerged the two main themes that reflect the reality evidenced in this context: The sudden advent of COVID-19 with impacts on palliative care; and The strategies used in palliative care to mitigate these impacts.

Torque teno virus among dialysis and renal-transplant patients.

Patients who undergo dialysis treatment or a renal transplant have a high risk of blood-borne viral infections, including the Torque teno virus (TTV). This study identified the presence of TTV and its genome groups in blood samples from 118 patients in dialysis and 50 renal-transplant recipients. The research was conducted in a hospital in the city of Maringá, state of Paraná.

Blood discard rate and the prevalence of infectious and contagious diseases in blood donors from provincial towns of the state of Paraná, Brazil.

Background: So that an improvement in the selection of donors can be achieved and the risk to the recipient of transfused blood can be reduced, prospective donors are submitted to clinical and serological screening.

Objective: This study investigated the blood discard rate and the rate of infectious and contagious diseases in blood donors from provincial towns of the state of Paraná, Brazil.

Methods: This study was an exploratory cross-sectional descriptive investigation with a quantitative approach of donations between January and December 2011.

[Evaluation of quality of life in elders undergoing hemodialysis].

Hemodialysis affects not only physical but psychological and social aspects, with repercussions on personal and family life. Considering the increase in the elderly population in Brazil, this study aims to evaluate the quality of life of elderly patients with chronic renal failure undergoing hemodialysis. This is a quantitative, descriptive exploratory study with elderly patients held in a facility specializing in hemodialysis in Guarapuava, Paraná, Brazil.