Assistência de enfermagem e o risco para úlceras de pressão medido pela Escala de Braden em unidade de terapia intensiva

The problem facing the incidence of pressure ulcers (UP) in the hospital environment especially in the intensive care unit (ICU), although it is an old and frequent event in our professional practice, it is not notified in the researches as much as it should be. We observed a tendency to invest in therapeutical and in studies about the production of sophisticated new bandages. Few, however, are the investments in research on preventive measures in order to prevent or at least slow down the development of lesions. In this sense, the study aimed to analyze the correlation between nursing care and the risk of developing UP measured by the Braden scale in ICU patients. This is a descriptive study of longitudinal quantitative approach. The project obtained a favourable opinion from the Ethics Committee of HUOL (no 486/10). Data collection was carried out in the Hospital of Unimed in Natal during six months in 2011. The sample was of 32 patients hospitalized in ICU for over four days. The results were processed in SPSS 15.0 for descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. We identified that, only 9.4% of our sample developed UP, being predominantly male, elderly people aged above 60 years, Caucasian, with diagnostic hypothesis at the time of hospitalization of sepsis, were clinical patients, who presented hemodynamic instability, using orotracheal tube (TOT), enteral probe (SNE), vesical probe delay (SVD) and had values of albumin and hemoglobin levels below normal. In addition, these patients had a longer hospital stay, longer usage of TOT, SNE, SVD, increased use of sedation and drain than those who did not develop UP and were all at risk for developing these injuries second Braden scores. 66.7% of the lesions developed were located in the sacral region, limiting the degree I and all patients that developed were considered serious, 100.0% of them have evolved since the death. Small were the differences between the averages of Braden scores between patients with and without UP, 11,9+2,4 against 12,4+2,6 with p = 0.627. The clinical aspects of the patients in the study were instrumental in the development of UP, once, these findings were statistically significant through the Mann-Whitney test, and appropriateness of nursing conduct was decisive for the prevention of pressure ulcers in critical patients, since many were those classified as at risk (28) and few who have developed lesions (03)

Úlceras de pressão: um estudo com pacientes de unidade de terapia intensiva

To characterize patients according to gender, age category, internment time, diagnostical hypothesis and location of the pressure ulcer; to identify the susceptibility conditions, intrinsical and extrinsical factors present on ICU patients and to verify on the existence of association between the susceptibility conditions and the intrinsecal and extrinsecal factors on the occurrence of PU. Methods: It is a descriptive study, of longitudinal design of the panel type, with quantitative approach, performed on two ICU s of a private hospital located in Natal/RN, with 40 patients interned at these units. The data collection was performed on all three shifts through a structured observation and physical exam of the patients' skin form seeking to identify the presence of PU. Results: The greatest occurence of PU was on individuals of the male gender (70%) when compared to the female gender (30%), that difference being statistically significant (p=0,0267), with the male gender presenting 4,3 times greater chance of developing PU than the female; the predominant age category was from 60 years of age on (85%), 60,0% presented 1 to 2 PU s after 7 (seven) days of permanence in the ICU s, the predominant diagnostical hypothesis on the patients with PU were the respiratory diseases (42,3%) and the most frequent locations of PU were the sacral region (40,0%) and heels (36,0%). 25 PU s of stage I were diagnosed on 50,0% of the followed patients, with general incidence of 50,0% on both ICUs. from the 88 variables researched, 75 were identified on the patients from the study, being the predominant conditions (anemia, hypotension, leukocytosis, other diseases hypertension blood pressure, cardiac insuffience, pneumonia - and ansiolythic), the intrinsecal factors (diminished muscular strenght and/or mass, discrete edema, totally compromised mobile coordination and total inability for movement on the bed) and the extrinsecal factors (inadequate mattress type, permanence on a single position for >2 hours, shearing/friction force, bed clothes with folds that leave marks on the body, pressure force) predominated on patients with PU. The male gender variables (p=0,0267,OR=4,3), sedation (p=0,0006,OR=4,1), psychomotive agitation (p=0,0375,OR=5,8) and leukocytosis (p=0,0285,OR=5,0) presented a significant statistical diference when analyzed independently. We verified an association of 17,3%, statistically significant (p=0,0384), between the susceptibility conditions (anemia, leukocytosis and hypotension), the intrinsecal factors (age equal or above 60 years, diminished/absent pain sensibility and smooth, fine or delicate skin) and the extrinsecal factors (inadequate mattress, pressure forces, shearing/friction force, permanence on a single position for more than 2 hours, elevation between 30 to 45 degrees and inadequate bed clothes' conditions), with a chance ratio of 4,6 times the risk of occurrence of PU on the patients that presented the referred association. Conclusion: The incidence of PU detected on the ICU-interned patients was high and we made evident the existence of association between the susceptibility conditions, the intrinsecal and extrinsecal factors on the occurrence of PU s on the ICUinterned patients, and thus we accept the alternative hypothesis proposed on the study