Educational action in health: the practice of correct hearing hygiene

Abstract

Hearing health encompasses, in one aspect, the practice of correct hygiene of the ear canal, in order to prevent inflammatory and infectious diseases, such as Otitis Externa. This work is an experience report, based on the authors' perceptions, about the preparation and application of the health educational activity proposed by the PROINTER II discipline, of the Nursing course at the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU). Given the importance of hearing and the quality of life of citizens, this work aims to spread knowledge about the subject, as well as prepare the authors to exchange knowledge with the community. For the subjective analysis of the effects arising from the action, all participants demonstrated the positive and negative perspectives from a word cloud. Fellowship, pride, dispersion of knowledge, group work and knowledge are presented by members as positive descriptors for action. However, anxiety, short development time, shame, shyness and expenses emerged as difficulties for the establishment of the action, but did not prevent the success of the work in the clinic. Therefore, this educational action made possible a beneficial experience for both the public and the students, responsible for carrying out the activity. The students acted in health promotion, clarifying doubts and instructing the participants about the correct ear hygiene from the use of an ear mold, a banner and questions to the public, as well as using data taken from scientific articles, in order to disseminate safe and reliable information to otorhinolaryngology patients.