Sepsis and AMI: knowledge of the population visiting parks and patient companions

Abstract

Objective: To identify the population’s knowledge of the terms “sepsis” and “acute myocardial infarction” (AMI). Method: Cross-sectional quantitative study. Data was collected through the application of a questionnaire to two groups of parti-cipants, as follows: individuals who visit parks in Porto Alegre, State of Rio Grande do Sul and companions of patients of a university hospital in Porto Alegre. Analysis of the results was performed by descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: The sample consisted of 1,986 respondents: 1,455 parkgoers and 531 companions of patients admitted to the hospital. Regarding the knowledge of sepsis, only 19.1% of the respondents had already heard about the subject. However, compared to knowledge about AMI, it was found that 98.7% knew the term. Conclusions: The study found that the scarce knowledge of the population about the term “sepsis” is related to the social level of the respondents, demonstrating poor access to information about health care.