Marcela Velez

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Verified

Marcela verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

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• MD, MSc, PhD
• Researcher at University of Antioquia

Background In recent years, citizens have become more interested and willing to influence health policy decision-making, and governments worldwide are more prone to citizen engagement in such processes. Prioritising which health technologies should be publicly funded is one decision that requires prudence and consideration of the values and expecta...

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic forced governments across the world to consider how to prioritize resource allocation. Most countries produced pandemic preparedness plans that guide and coordinate healthcare, including how to allocate scarce resources such as ventilators, human resources, and therapeutics. The objective of this study was to compa...

Objectives To explore the perceptions that Colombians have about voluntary private health insurance plans (VPHI) in the health system to identify the tensions that exist between the public and private systems. Methods A qualitative case study approach with 46 semi structured interviews of patients, healthcare workers, healthcare administrators, de...

Objetivo: Esta investigación pretende explorar y comprender las percepciones de un grupo de ciudadanos sobre las tecnologías y los servicios en salud que deben financiarse con recursos públicos. Métodos: Se utilizó un estudio de caso cualitativo. Se recolectó información mediante entrevistas semiestructuradas a 46 participantes en cinco grupos pobl...

Background Health planning and priority setting with a gender lens can help to anticipate and mitigate vulnerabilities that women and girls may experience in health systems, which is especially relevant during health emergencies. This study examined how gender considerations were accounted for in COVID-19 pandemic response planning in a subset of c...

Introduction Misinformation refers to inadvertent misleading information that the public may be exposed and share without intent to cause harm, and can delay or prevent effective care, affect mental health, lead to misallocation of health resources and/or create or exacerbate public-health crises. There are many strategies to address misinformation...

Objectives To explore and explain the perceptions that Colombians have about voluntary private health insurance plans (VPHI) in the health system to identify the tensions that exist between the public and private systems. Methods A case study with semistructured interviews of patients, healthcare workers, healthcare administrators, decision-makers,...

Objetivo: como parte de la elaboración de una guía de práctica clínica (GPC) para el cuidado de personas con baja visión en Colombia, se recomienda incluir la participación de pacientes. El objetivo fue identificar los aspectos de la vida cotidiana que se ven más afectados por la baja visión, los cuales se deben trabajar en un proceso de rehabilita...

Background: Variation in priorities during pandemic planning among the federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions are thought to have impacted Canada's ability to effectively control the spread of the COVID-19 virus, and protect the most vulnerable. The potential influence of diverse and divergent political, cultural, and behavioural factor...

Background: To increase people's access to rehabilitation services, particularly in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we need to explore how the delivery of these services can be adapted. This includes the use of home-based rehabilitation and telerehabilitation. Home-based rehabilitation services may become frequently used options in the recov...

Objetivo: Desarrollar recomendaciones basadas en la evidencia para el diagnóstico, la rehabilitación funcional y el seguimiento de personas con baja visión entre 7 y 18 años y mayores de 18 años. Método: Se conformó el grupo desarrollador con la participación de pacientes. Se hizo una búsqueda sistemática y se evaluaron la calidad de los estudios...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted health systems and exacerbated pre-existing resource gaps in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (WHO-EMRO). Active humanitarian and refugee crises have led to mass population displacement and increased health system fragility, which has implication for equitable priority setting (PS). We ex...

Background The World Health Organization- South-East Asia Region (WHO-SEARO) accounted for almost 17% of all the confirmed cases and deaths of COVID-19 worldwide. While the literature has documented a weak COVID-19 response in the WHO-SEARO, there has been no discussion of the degree to which this could have been influenced/ mitigated with the inte...

Background Evidence briefs for policy (EBP) draw on best-available data and research evidence (e.g., systematic reviews) to help clarify policy problems, frame options for addressing them, and identify implementation considerations for policymakers in a given context. An increasing number of governments, non-governmental organizations and research...

Objective: To synthesize information on the psychometric properties of scales used to assess vision-related quality of life in people with low vision. Methods: A systematic review was conducted. The Cochrane Library, Embase, PubMed, Bireme and Epistemonikos databases were consulted in July 2020. Eligibility assessment of abstracts and full texts...

Background Evidence-based health system guidelines are pivotal tools to help outline the important financial, policy and service components recommended to achieve a sustainable and resilient health system. However, not all guidelines are readily translatable into practice and/or policy without effective and tailored implementation and adaptation te...

Background Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are among those regions most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic has strained health systems in the region. In this context of severe healthcare resource constraints, there is a need for systematic priority-setting to support decision-making which ensures the best use o...

Priority setting during public health emergencies presents an enormous challenge for federal and state decision makers in the U.S. Objectives We describe the degree to which U.S. priority setting adheres to established quality indicators and explore relationships between such indicators and states’ demographic characteristics. Methods Data includ...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed a burden on all health systems budgets and pushed policymakers to rapidly set priorities for resource allocation. This study aimed to identify quality parameters of priority setting (PS) incorporated in a sample of the national response plans. Methods We reviewed a sample of COVID-19 national response p...

Background Forcibly displaced people represent a huge humanitarian problem globally. At the end of 2020, the total number was 82,4 million; from those, 34,4 million were refugees, asylum seekers, and Venezuelan displaced abroad. Forcibly displaced people were identified as priority populations during the pandemic due to their risk of being the last...

Background The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly disrupted health systems in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (WHO-EMRO), where over half of the countries are affected by armed conflict. Active humanitarian and refugee crises have led to mass population displacement and increased health system fragility. This has exacerbated pre-existing resource...

Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has forced governments across Europe to consider how to prioritise the allocation of scarce resources. Many took decisions to increase funding for health services, and to redirect current fiscal, human and technical resource towards meeting the new threat. Methods We conducted document analysis of pandemic prepar...

Background The importance of stakeholder involvement in priority setting has been recognized in theoretical and empirical literature; however, there is a paucity of evidence reporting on stakeholder involvement in planning the response to public health emergencies. The COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to explore how stakeholders are involv...

Background Citizen participation in health policy decision-making is an issue of global interest. In Colombia, since 2015, a law ordered the Ministry of Health to establish a technical-scientific and participatory procedure to determine services and technologies that should not be publicly funded. The objective of this research was to explore and u...

El 5 de mayo de 2021 los rectores de siete universidades colombianas, entre ellas la Universidad de Antioquia, se pronunciaron públicamente reconociendo el movimiento social en curso «como expresión de las necesidades más sentidas de la sociedad»; un movimiento integrador, plural y diverso que, con el paro nacional del 28 de abril de 2021, retomaba...

Introduction The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID19) pandemic has struck Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) particularly hard. One of the crucial areas in the international community’s response relates to accelerating research and knowledge sharing. The aim of this article is to map and characterise the existing empirical research related to COVI...

Este resumen de evidencia pretende sintetizar la información sobre los límites de control empleados en otras jurisdicciones, y la evidencia sobre la efectividad y seguridad de los medicamentos a base de cannabis. Aunque el énfasis de este resumen de evidencia se centra en cannabis medicinal, también consideramos información de otros productos termi...

Priority setting represents an even bigger challenge during public health emergencies than routine times. This is because such emergencies compete with routine programs for the available health resources, strain health systems, and shift health care attention and resources towards containing the spread of the epidemic and treating those that fall s...

Objective: To describe adaptations in the provision of rehabilitation services proposed by scientific and professional rehabilitation organizations to avoid interruptions to patients' rehabilitation process and delays in starting rehabilitation in patients with COVID-19. Methods: A narrative review approach was used to identify the recommendatio...

Introduction The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID19) pandemic has struck Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) particularly hard. One of the crucial areas in the international community’s response relates to accelerating research and knowledge sharing. The aim of this article is to map and characterise the existing empirical research related to COVI...

Background The aim of the study is to compare the emotional effects of COVID-19 among three different groups, namely: health personnel, medical students, and a sample of the general population. Methods 375 participants were recruited for this study, of which 125 were medical students (preclinical studies, 59; clinical studies, 66), 125 were health...

América Latina y el Caribe (ALC) es la región más afectada por la pandemia COVID-19, superando el promedio de casos y muertes en el mundo. A su vez, el avance de la vacunación en la región varía entre países y enfrenta diversos desafíos en producción, acceso, almacenamiento y distribución, mientras los niveles de contagio siguen siendo altos. La UN...

Background: The aim of the study is to compare the emotional effects of COVID-19 among three different groups, namely: health personnel, medical students, and a sample of the general population. Methods: 375 participants were recruited for this study, of which 125 were medical students (preclinical studies, 59; clinical studies, 66), 125 were he...

Introduction and hypothesisThis systematic review evaluated the rigor of the development of clinical practice guidelines (CPG).Methods The searched sources were MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, Scopus, and specific databases of CPG. Reviewers, organized in triplicate and independently, selected the studies and assessed the quality of the guidelines...

Background: The prevalence of obesity and diabetes mellitus (DM) has each increased drastically according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Growth of severe insulinresistant DM is predicted. U-500 insulin is highly concentrated and can replace less concentrated formulations in patients that need high insulin dosages. The aim of th...

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Qualitative Evidence Synthesis. The objectives are as follows:• To identify factors that influence the organisation and delivery of home-based and telerehabilitation for people needing rehabilitation.• To identify factors that may influence the organisation and delivery of and home- based rehabilitation and telereh...

This synthesis addresses the following questions: • What vaccines are being developed to combat COVID-19 infection? What phase of clinical trials are they? • What is the efficacy and safety of the vaccines in phase II/III and III?

This synthesis addresses the following questions: • What is the global capacity for the production and distribution of the vaccines for COVID-19? • What are the political and economic implications of the development of these vaccines?

This evidence synthesis addresses the following questions: 1. What are the necessary interventions and adaptations in the school environment (primary and secondary) to guarantee a safe face-to-face education for the school population (boys, girls, adolescents, teachers, other institutional personnel)? 2. How to communicate effectively with the staf...

Background: In response to worldwide calls for the need to support evidence-informed policy-making (EIPM), more countries are increasingly interested in enhancing their efforts to use research to inform policy-making. In order to inform the efforts of those asked to lead the support of EIPM, our aim is to develop a conceptual framework to guide th...

Background: Although values underpin the goals pursued in health systems, including how health systems benefit the population, it is often not clear how values are incorporated into policy decision-making about health systems. The challenge is to encompass social/citizen values, health system goals, and financial realities and to incorporate them...

This synthesis addressed te following questions: What are the actions around (1) promotion and prevention, (2) mental symptoms care and (3) pedagogical adaptations that can be developed in order to improve the mental health of college and university students?

Este artículo se publica anticipadamente en versión pdf en forma provisional sin diagramación y corrección de estilo. El artículo ha sido aprobó para publicación de acuerdo con el veredicto de los pares académicos. Puede descargar, usar, distribuir y citar esta versión pero recuerde que la versión impresa final y en formato pdf pueden ser diferente...

This rapid synthesis address the following questions: 1) Is the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 similar between children and adults? 2) What is the frequency of serious illness in children and adolescents? 3) What is the impact of school closings on the epidemiological behavior of the disease and on the physical and mental health of children and adolesc...

Background: The best scientific evidence is required to design effective Non-pharmaceutical interventions to help policymakers to contain COVID-19. Aim: To describe which Non-pharmaceutical interventions used different countries and a when they use them. It also explores how Non-pharmaceutical interventions impact the number of cases, the mortalit...

This rapid synthesis intends to answer the following question: What healthcare delivery organizational planning strategies have proven useful for the management of patients with COVID-19?

This rapid synthesis address the following questions: In patients with COVID-19 and acute hypoxemic ventilatory failure: • What is the effectiveness of administering high oxygen flows (> 15 L / min) to decrease the rate of admission to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), the need for orotracheal intubation (OTI), and mortality? • What is the effectivene...

This rapid synthesis address the following question: In children and adults, what sociodemographic, clinical, and paraclinical variables can predict: 1) The need for hospitalization and admission to intensive care. 2) Severe disease with acute respiratory failure and mortality.

In this rapid synthesis we aimed to address the following questions: ¿What is the clinical performance of laboratory tests for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection? ¿What is the best sampling technique for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection? ¿Which is the best time to take the sample for the diagnose SARS-CoV-2 infection? ¿What is the clinical...

Esta síntesis de evidencia aborda las siguientes preguntas: ¿Qué intervenciones no farmacológicas (INFs) han adoptado diferentes países para la contención, la mitigación o la supresión de la pandemia por COVID-19? ¿En qué momento, después de identificar el primer caso, han implementado las INFs? ¿Cuál es el impacto de las INFs en la contención, la...

Esta síntesis aborda la siguiente pregunta: En personas adultas con infección respiratoria aguda por COVID-19 ¿Qué tratamientos específicos pueden ofrecerse, además del cuidado estándar, para disminuir la mortalidad y las complicaciones? This rapid synthesis addresses the following question: In addition to standard care, which specific pharmacolog...

Esta síntesis rápida de la evidencia aborda la pregunta: ¿Cuál es la efectividad y seguridad del Ganoderma lucidum para el tratamiento del cáncer?

Esta síntesis de evidencia abordó las siguientes preguntas: ¿Qué estrategias de contención de la propagación de la infección por el nuevo coronavirus 2019-nCoV han mostrado ser efectivas? ¿Qué tratamientos específicos pueden ofrecerse a las personas infectadas por el nuevo Coronavirus 2019-nCoV?

Background: Chile and Colombia are examples of Latin American countries with health systems shaped by similar values. Recently, both countries have crafted policies to regulate the participation of private for-profit insurance companies in their health systems, but through very different mechanisms. This study asks: what values are important in th...

Introducción. Mientras la naturaleza y manera exacta de interacción entre estados y sociedades puede variar entre diferentes naciones, existen suficientes paralelos en cuanto a los patrones de relación estado-sociedad y las funciones de las instituciones sociales, para permitir la comparación y clasificación de varias naciones en diferentes categor...

Este capítulo presenta hallazgos de investigación sobre el rol de los valores sociales y políticos en la toma de decisiones sobre financiación del sistema de salud colombiano, investigación que hizo parte de la tesis doctoral en política de salud desarrollada en McMaster University: “Valores en la toma de decisiones políticas en salud”. En comparac...

Introducción Desde la reforma al Sistema de Salud Colombiano en 1993, la tendencia en la trayectoria de interposición de tutelas se mantiene ascendente, evidenciando que los arreglos institucionales del sistema de salud que llevaron al uso de este mecanismo siguen sin modificarse. Objetivo Analizar el cambio conceptual de la Corte Constitucional s...

Esta síntesis rápida aborda la pregunta: ¿Qué estrategias/intervenciones han sido desarrolladas para excluir tecnologías en salud?

Abstract Health systems guidance (HSG) documents contain systematically developed statements or recommendations intended to address a health system challenge. The concept of HSG is fairly new and considerable effort has been undertaken to build tools to support the contextualization of recommendations. One example is the Appraisal of Guidelines for...

Background Health systems are increasingly focusing on the issue of ‘overuse’ of health services and how to address it. We developed a framework focused on (1) the rationale and context for health systems prioritising addressing overuse, (2) elements of a comprehensive process and approach to reduce overuse and (3) implementation considerations for...

Se realizó una revisión de literatura para identificar artículos sobre cuestionarios de medición de bullying existentes en idioma español, que tuvieran información del contenido del instrumento, reportaran las propiedades psicométricas y que la población objetivo fueran estudiantes. Se encontraron 36 instrumentos, de ellos 21 reportaban alguna medi...

Colombian Rasch Validation of KIDSCREEN-10 Quality of Life Questionnaire

Introduction: The aim of this study was to validate the PedsQL 4.0TM in Colombian children and adolescents using the Rasch model. The Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL 4.0TM) has demonstrated to be a reliable and sensitive measurement to changes in health status, as well as being quick and easy to use. Methods: Validation study of measur...

Background The family of KIDSCREEN instruments is the only one with trans-cultural adaptation and validation in Colombia. These validations have been performed from the classical test theory approach, which has evidenced satisfactory psychometric properties. The aim of this study was to evaluate psychometric properties of KIDSCREEN-27 children and...

La salud en Colombia es un ensayo que permite comprender cómo es el sistema colombiano, cómo se estructuró a partir de la Ley 100, sus falencias, y qué lo ha convertido en un foco de corrupción de gran magnitud que hoy en día tiene la atención de los problemas de salud de los colombianos en una franca crisis. La autora hace un balance de la situaci...

Introducción: En Colombia sólo se ha validado hasta el momento, un instrumento de medición de CVRS en niños: el KIDSCREEN-27. El PedsQL 4.0™ ha probado ser una escala, confiable, sensible a los cambios en el estado de salud, de rápida y fácil aplicación. El propósito de este estudio fue validar el PedsQL 4.0™ a partir de la aplicación del modelo Ra...

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of reducing the number of response options per question on the psychometric indicators of an exam for admission to postgraduate medical studies, at University of Antioquia, in Medellín, Colombia. Methodology: Application of psychometric assessment indexes from the perspective or two the...

Evaluation of a self-protection behavior promotion programme to prevention of child sexual abuse, Medellin, Colombia Abstract Introduction: In Colombia, child sexual abuse is a growing problem. In 2011, Legal Medicine Institute held 22.597 medical evaluations for alleged sexual offences, 87% of all victims were children and adolescents. In this stu...

Las distrofias musculares son enfermedades genéticas que causan debilidad y degeneración progresiva del músculo. La palabra distrofia viene del griego “dis” que significa difícil o defectuoso y “trof” de nutrición. Las distrofias musculares son causadas por anormalidades en las proteínas relacionadas con la membrana muscular y existen más de 60 for...

Introduction: In Colombia, child sexual abuse is a growing problem. In 2011, Legal Medicine Institute held 22.597 medical evaluations for alleged sexual offences, 87% of all victims were children and adolescents. In this study, a child sexual abuse prevention program was developed and the change in knowledge of self-protection behaviors of children...

Introduction: Currently, communication is an essential competence in medical training. CICAA is a scale conceived from a multidimensional perspective according to Kalamazoo's criteria, this is an instrument used to assess different communicational tasks in clinical interview. Subjects and methods: Two observers, one with a background in social scie...

Resumen Objetivo: Validar la versión KIDSCREEN-27 para padres en el Área Metropolitana de Medellín, Colombia, incluyendo la subescala aceptación social (AS) del KIDSCREEN-52, pues esta permite evaluar el efecto del bullying en la calidad de vida (CV) del niño. Métodos: La población de estudio fueron padres de niños entre los 8 y 18 años, de Medellí...

RESUMEN El concepto de calidad de vida (CV) se ha venido posicionando como un desenlace muy relevante en el ámbito clínico y en la economía de la salud. Existen muchos instrumentos para medirla basados en diferentes teorías. En un esfuerzo por dar respuesta a esos diferentes enfoques se introdujo el concepto de resultados percibidos por el paciente...

Objective: Validate the KIDSCREEN-27 for parents in the metropolitan area of Medellin, Colombia, including the Social Acceptance (SA) subscale of KIDSCREEN-52, as it evaluates the effect of bullying in Life Quality of children. Methods: The study population was made up by parents of children between 8 and 18, from Medellin and its metropolitan area...

The quality of life concept (QoL) has positioned itself as a relevant outcome both in the clinical setting, and the economy of health. Many instruments are available to measure it based on different theories. In an effort to respond to these different approaches, the concept of Patient Reported Outcomes (PRO) was introduced meaning that information...

Existe una diferencia tan grande entre los países desarrollados y los subdesarrollados, ha sido tan profunda la aplicación de las políticas económicas contra los países pobres que los efectos de esta dominación se reflejan en el estado nutricional de las poblaciones. Mientras en los Estados Unidos y demás países desarrollados se enfrentan al proble...

Las discusiones sobre desarrollo de nuevos fármacos, acceso a medicamentos, patentes y leyes de propiedad intelectual hacen parte de los asuntos más polémicos en estos días, no sólo entre los profesionales de la salud, sino en la sociedad en general. En el caso de los genéricos, tema de gran interés para los sistemas de salud de las naciones pobres...