Keywords
Health Personnel
Clinical Practices
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Abstract
Objective: To map clinical practices of health professionals in the management of children with severe acute malnutrition treated in public hospitals in developing countries. Methods: Scoping review based on the PRISMA-ScR guide (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews). Searches conducted in MEDLINE/PubMed, CINAHL/EBSCO, Scopus, Embase, LILACS PLUS, Web of Science, SciELO, Google Scholar, Science.gov, and Arxiv, guided by the question: what are the clinical practices of health professionals in the management of children with severe acute malnutrition in public hospitals in developing countries? No language or publication period restrictions, using health descriptors. Results: Although there are improvements after interventions based on training, clinical supervision, process reorganization, and use of monitoring tools, relevant failures persist in critical steps of the guidelines recommended by the World Health Organization, notably in those requiring frequent clinical monitoring and consistent records. Final considerations: Qualifying hospital care for children with severe acute malnutrition depends not only on the existence of protocols, but on ongoing education of teams, institutional support, availability of supplies, and strengthening of multiprofessional work.
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