Sr. Editor:En el número 1 del presente año de su revista, el Dr. Mendoza-Arana, a través de su artículo referido a la investigación en educación médica en la Facultad de Medicina San Fernando, menciona indicadores de productividad científica de la Facultad de Medicina sobre el tema de educación médica durante los años 2005-2010. Para ello toma como referentes de información los libros de resúmenes de los congresos de la ASPEFAM, Jornadas Científicas Sanfernandinas, además de dos revistas científicas: Anales de la Facultad de Medicina y la Revista Peruana de Medicina Experimental y Salud Pública (1), obteniendo en total 120 unidades bibliográficas identificadas, de las cuales un porcentaje de importancia conforma la producción médico estudiantil.

Introducción: El estudio de expectativas de estudiantes de medicina como futuros recursos humanos en salud permite el conocimiento adecuado para la toma de decisiones y mejor aprovechamiento de éstos, así evitar conflictos futuros o su pérdida por emigración. Objetivo: Determinar las diferencias en las expectativas económicas y profesionales de estudiantes de medicina peruanos de primer y quinto año. Diseño: Estudio transversal, multicéntrico. Lugar: Escuelas de medicina peruanas. Participantes: Estudiantes de medicina humana peruanos matriculados en primer y quinto año, 2011. Intervenciones: Se utilizó una encuesta auto administrada a los participantes entre octubre y diciembre 2011. Para describir los hallazgos se utilizó medianas, rangos intercuartil y frecuencias y porcentajes. Análisis bivariado: x2, OR y diferencia de proporciones (p꞊0,05) Principales medidas de resu...

Objetivo: Describir los conocimientos sobre transmisión, sintomatología, acciones de prevención y control frente a dengue en la región Piura, Perú. Material y métodos: Análisis secundario de la sección 700 (salud) de la Encuesta Nacional de Programas Estratégicos 2014, realizada por el Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática a 113 073 habitantes de ≥14 años a nivel nacional (5 131 en Piura). Se analizaron las preguntas 701 al 704 sobre conocimientos de dengue. Las respuestas fueron analizadas según características demográficas y provincia de residencia. Además, se comparó los resultados de toda la región frente al promedio nacional. Resultados: En Piura, el 78,4% refirió que la transmisión de dengue es por la picadura de un mosquito, (solo 54,5% a nivel nacional). Hubo diferencias entre zonas urbana (84%) y rural (58,2%), y entre provincias. Los síntomas mÃ...

Objetivo: Describir los conocimientos sobre transmisión, sintomatología, acciones de prevención y control frente a dengue en la región Piura, Perú. Material y métodos: Análisis secundario de la sección 700 (salud) de la Encuesta Nacional de Programas Estratégicos 2014, realizada por el Instituto Nacional de Estadística e Informática a 113 073 habitantes de ≥14 años a nivel nacional (5 131 en Piura). Se analizaron las preguntas 701 al 704 sobre conocimientos de dengue. Las respuestas fueron analizadas según características demográficas y provincia de residencia. Además, se comparó los resultados de toda la región frente al promedio nacional. Resultados: En Piura, el 78,4% refirió que la transmisión de dengue es por la picadura de un mosquito, (solo 54,5% a nivel nacional). Hubo diferencias entre zonas urbana (84%) y rural (58,2%), y entre provincias. Los síntomas mÃ...

The university is an entity that allows the generation of knowledge through research, which responds to regional and global needs help making decisions and establishment of policies (1). To do this, universities are organized by research centers, which have lines of research; research thus become sustainable and contextual.

A bibliometric study was carried out to describe the scientific production on cancer written by peruvians and published in international health journals, as well as to assess the scientific collaboration networks. It included articles on cancer written in Peru between the years 2000 and 2011 and published in health journals indexed in SCOPUS or Science Citation Index Expanded. In the 358 articles identified, an increase in the production was seen, from 4 articles in 2000 to 57 in 2011.The most studied types were cervical cancer (77 publications); breast cancer (53), and gastric cancer (37). The National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases (INEN) was the most productive institution (121 articles) and had the highest number of collaborations (180 different institutions). 52 clinical trials were identified, 29 of which had at least one author from INEN. We can conclude that, cancer research is...

Efficiency evaluation is a useful tool for making right decisions at health care institutions. This includes knowing the variability and reliability of registered medical and surgical procedures times. Objectives: To determine variability and confidence of registered cesarean deliveries surgical processes times. Design: Cross-sectional study. Institution: Clinica Centenario Peruano Japonesa. Participants: Patients’ cesarean deliveries registries. Interventions: Medical and surgical times data were obtained from the surgical registry and clinical records' registry, 2011. Main outcome measures: Dispersion measures of all indicators and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) from the studied registries. Results: Operating room patient transfer time showed the greatest variability and the ICCs between studied registries for starting and ending time of cesarean delivery were 0.902 and 0...

Background Latin America is undergoing a human resource crisis in health care in terms of labor shortage, misdistribution and poor orientation to primary care. Workforce data are needed to inform the planning of long-term strategies to address this problem. This study aimed to evaluate the academic and motivational profile, as well as the professional expectations, of Latin American medical students. Results We conducted an observational, cross-sectional, multi-country study evaluating medical students from 11 Spanish-speaking countries in 2011–2012. Motivations to study medicine, migration intentions, intent to enter postgraduate programs, and perceptions regarding primary care were evaluated via a self-administered questionnaire. Outcomes were measured with pilot-tested questions and previously validated scales. A total of 11,072 valid surveys from 63 medical schools were gathered an...

Background: Actinomycosis is an unusual chronic bacterial infection, even rarer in people living with HIV. It is not considered an AIDS-defining disease. However, the role in co-presentation or overlap with other opportunistic conditions of advanced HIV is unknown. Case presentation: A 49-year-old Peruvian male presented with a 4-month history of dysphagia, odynophagia, hyporexia and wasting. He underwent an upper digestive endoscopy, in which ulcers with a necrotic center were observed, therefore, the initial diagnostic assumption was esophageal cancer. Subsequent pathology report excluded neoplasms and confirmed the diagnosis of actinomycosis. Serology for human immunodeficiency virus was requested, yielding a positive result. Antimicrobial treatment with amoxicillin and antiretroviral therapy were indicated, with slow clinical improvement. After 4 months, epigastric discomfort present...

Leprosy (Hansen’s disease) is a chronic granulomatous condition caused by Mycobacterium leprae, a microorganism that affects the skin and Schwann’s cells. Making a diagnosis of this condition is difficult in non-endemic areas because of low clinical suspicion. During the 2012-2019 time period, three cases of Hansen’s disease were diagnosed and treated in the ID service of Dos de Mayo Hospital. The average time history of the disease was 4 years. Patients started their condition with the appearance of pruriginous papular lesions affecting specific body regions, progressing to generalized nodular lesions. Paresthesia and tactile, thermal, pain, and vibratory hypoesthesia were found. These manifestations later progressed to anesthesia. Diagnosis was made through bacilloscopy in lymphatic fluid and skin node biopsy. Clinical features for each patient are also described. We emphasize th...

Leprosy (Hansen’s disease) is a chronic granulomatous condition caused by Mycobacterium leprae, a microorganism that affects the skin and Schwann’s cells. Making a diagnosis of this condition is difficult in non-endemic areas because of low clinical suspicion. During the 2012-2019 time period, three cases of Hansen’s disease were diagnosed and treated in the ID service of Dos de Mayo Hospital. The average time history of the disease was 4 years. Patients started their condition with the appearance of pruriginous papular lesions affecting specific body regions, progressing to generalized nodular lesions. Paresthesia and tactile, thermal, pain, and vibratory hypoesthesia were found. These manifestations later progressed to anesthesia. Diagnosis was made through bacilloscopy in lymphatic fluid and skin node biopsy. Clinical features for each patient are also described. We emphasize th...

A 27-year-old Peruvian woman living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in clinical stage B3 and not on antiretroviral therapy presented with a ten-day history of fever, chills, night sweats and a two-day history of skin lesions. On physical examination, several erythematous-purplish lesions were found on the face and legs. Meningococcal infection was suspected and ceftriaxone was started. Blood culture grew nontyphoidal Salmonella enterica. A biopsy of the skin lesions showed leukocytoclastic vasculitis (LCV); therefore, corticosteroids were added. After two weeks of antibiotic and corticosteroid treatment, the lesions had resolved, but they recurred two days after treatment with prednisone was stopped. Corticosteroids and combination antiretroviral therapy were started simultaneously and the lesions resolved without recurrence. HIV infection has been associated with higher rates of...

Background The shortage in Latin-American Primary Care (PC) workforce may be due to negative perceptions about it. These perceptions might be probably influenced by particular features of health systems and academic environments, thus varying between countries. Methods Observational, analytic and cross-sectional multicountry study that evaluated 9,561 first and fifth-year medical students from 63 medical schools of 11 Latin American countries through a survey. Perceptions on PC work was evaluated through a previously validated scale. Tertiles of the scores were created in order to compare the different countries. Crude and adjusted prevalence ratios were calculated using simple and multiple Poisson regression with robust variance. Results Approximately 53% of subjects were female; mean age was 20.4±2.9 years; 35.5%were fifth-year students. Statistically significant differences were foun...