Vivência do enfermeiro no cuidado humano na Unidade de Terapia Intensiva adulto

The purpose of the study was to understand the nurse s experience with human care in the Adult Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The objective was to describe the nurse s experience in caring for patients in the ICU and to analyze the nurse s perception of the care provided. The study is a descriptive inquiry of qualitative nature with a phenomenological approach. We interviewed eight nurses, 26 and 43 years of age, that provide care in the ICU of a private hospital in Natal/RN, during the manths of July and August of 2006. We analyzed the data acording to the method of Colaizzi. Four categories emerged from the data: The search for the maintenance of life, The technicalbureaucratic activities, The recognition of the patient s individuality, and the expression of the nurse s feelings.The analysis allowed us to describe the lived experience of the nurse s care the ICU and to comprehend the structural elements of this experience. The results showed that the nurse s experience presents itself as a process of the several actions and feelings that occur while the social relations between the patient and the nurse develop. Finally, we understand that although the study shows an experience based on a biological model of health, these nurses possess an initial idea on how to reach humanized care in its essence, needing, however, of an institutional policy that favors this practice, an educational formation that prepares her to recognize her field of work as a place of continuous learning and an understanding of the health model as an ally in the search of humanized care

Nursing Activities Score: avaliação da carga de trabalho de enfermagem em unidade de terapia intensiva adulto

The sizing of nursing human resources is an essential management tool to meet the needs of the patients and the institution. Regarding to the Intensive Care Unit, where the most critical patients are treated and the most advanced life-support equipments are used, requiring a high number of skilled workers, the use of specific indicators to measure the workload of the team becomes necessary. The Nursing Activities Score is a validated instrument for measuring nursing workload in the Intensive Care Unit that has demonstrated effectiveness. It is a cross-sectional study with the primary objective of assessing the workload of nursing staff in an adult Intensive Care Unit through the application of the Nursing Activities Score. The study was conducted in a private hospital specialized in the treatment of patients with cancer, which is located in the city of Natal (Rio Grande do Norte – Brazil). The study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the hospital (Protocol number 558.799; CAAE 24966013.7.0000.5293). For data collection, a form of sociodemographic characteristics of the patients was used; the Nursing Activities Score was used to identify the workload of nursing staff; and the instrument of Perroca, which classifies patients and provides data related to the their need for nursing care, was also used. The collected data were analyzed using a statistical package. The categorical variables were described by absolute and relative frequency, while the number by median and interquartile range. Considering the inferential approach, the Spearman test, the Wald chi-square, Kruskal Wallis and Mann-Whitney test were used. The statistically significant variables were those with p values <0.05. The evaluation of the overall averages of NAS, considering the first 15 days of hospitalization, was performed by the analysis of Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE), with adjust for the variable length of hospitalization. The sample consisted of 40 patients, in the period of June to August 2014. The results showed a mean age of 62,1 years (±23,4) with a female predominance (57,5%). The most frequent type of treatment was clinical (60,0%), observing an average stay of 6,9 days (±6,5). Considering the origin, most patients (35%) came from the Surgical Center. There was a mortality rate of 27,5%. 277 measures of NAS score and Perroca were performed, and the averages of 69,8% (±24,1) and 22,7% (±4.2) were obtained, respectively. There was an association between clinical outcome and value of the Nursing Activities Score in 24 hours (p <0.001), and between the degree of dependency of patients and nursing workload (rp 0,653, p<0,001). The achieved workload of the nursing staff, in the analyzed period, was presented high, showing that hospitalized patients required a high demand for care. These findings create subsidies for sizing of staff and allocation of human resources in the sector, in order to achieve greater safety and patient satisfaction as a result of intensive care, as well as an environment conducive to quality of life for the professionals