Objective To describe nursing workload in Intensive Care Units (ICU) in different countries according to the scores obtained with Nursing Activities Score (NAS) and to verify the agreement among countries on the NAS guideline interpretation. Method This cross-sectional study considered 1-day measure of NAS (November 2012) obtained from 758 patients in 19 ICUs of seven countries (Norway, the Netherlands, Spain, Poland, Egypt, Greece and Brazil). The Delphi technique was used in expertise meetings and consensus. Results The NAS score was 72.8% in average, ranging from 44.5% (Spain) to 101.8% (Norway). The mean NAS score from Poland, Greece and Egypt was 83.0%, 64.6% and 57.1%, respectively. The NAS score was similar in Brazil (54.0%) and in the Netherlands (51.0%). There were doubts in the understanding of five out 23 items of the NAS (21.7%) which were discussed until researchers’ consensus. Conclusion NAS score were different in the seven countries. Future studies must verify if the fine standardization of the guideline can have a impact on differences in the NAS results.

Objective:To identify evidences of the influence of nursing workload on the occurrence of adverse events (AE) in adult patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Method: A systematic literature review was conducted in the databases MEDLINE, CINAHL, LILACS, SciELO, BDENF, and Cochrane from studies in English, Portuguese, or Spanish, published by 2015. The analyzed AE were infection, pressure ulcer (PU), patient falls, and medication errors. Results: Of 594 potential studies, eight comprised the final sample of the review. The Nursing Activities Score (NAS; 37.5%) and the Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System (TISS; 37.5%) were the instruments most frequently used for assessing nursing workload. Six studies (75.0%) identified the influence of work overload in events of infection, PU, and medication errors. An investigation found that the NAS was a protective factor for PU. Conclusion: The nursing workload required by patients in the ICU influenced the occurrence of AE, and nurses must monitor this variable daily to ensure proper sizing of staff and safety of care.

Objective: to identify associations between the Burnout domains and the characteristics of the work environment. Method: cross-sectional study with 745 nurses from 40 public health institutions in São Paulo. Nursing Work Index-Revised (NWI-R) and Maslach Burnout Inventory were used. Similar institutions according to NWI-R were grouped by clustering and the Anova and Bonferroni tests were used in the comparative analyzes. Results: there was signifi cant and moderate correlation between emotional exhaustion and autonomy, control over the environment and organizational support; between reduced personal accomplishment, autonomy and organizational support; and between depersonalization and autonomy. The group that presented the worst conditions in the work environment differed on emotional exhaustion from the group with most favorable traits. Conclusion: emotional exhaustion was the trait of Burnout that was more consistently related to the group of institutions with more unfavorable working conditions regarding autonomy, organizational support and control over the environment. Descriptors: Burnout, Professional; Nursing; Health Facility Environment; Hospitals, Public; Cross-Sectional Studies. RESUMO Objetivo: identifi car associações entre os domínios do Burnout e as características do ambiente de trabalho. Método: estudo transversal com 745 enfermeiros de 40 instituições públicas de saúde de São Paulo. Nursing Work Index-Revised (NWI-R) e Maslach Burnout Inventory foram utilizados. Instituições semelhantes, segundo NWI-R, foram agrupadas pelo método de Cluster e os testes Anova e Bonferroni foram aplicados nas análises comparativas. Resultados: houve correlação signifi cativa e moderada entre exaustão emocional e autonomia, controle sobre o ambiente e suporte organizacional; baixa realização pessoal e autonomia, e suporte organizacional; despersonalização e autonomia. O grupo que apresentou as piores condições de ambiente de trabalho diferiu do que teve os mais favoráveis atributos quanto à exaustão emocional. Conclusão: a exaustão emocional foi o traço do Burnout que se relacionou de forma mais constante com o grupo de instituições com condições mais desfavoráveis de trabalho quanto à autonomia, suporte organizacional e controle sobre o ambiente. Descritores: Esgotamento Profi ssional; Enfermagem; Ambiente de Instituições de Saúde; Hospitais Públicos; Estudos Transversais. RESUMENObjetivo: identifi car asociaciones entre los dominios de Burnout y las características del ambiente de trabajo. Método: estudio transversal entre 745 enfermeros de 40 instituciones públicas de salud de São Paulo. Se utilizaron, la Escala Adaptada del Entorno de Práctica Enfermera (Nursing Work Index-Revised, NWI-R) y el cuestionario Maslach Burnout Inventory. Se agruparon instituciones semejantes por el método de Cluster, según la NWI-R y se aplicaron las pruebas Anova y Bonferroni en los análisis comparativos. Resultados: hubo correlación signifi cativa y moderada entre agotamiento emocional y autonomía, control sobre el ambien...

BackgroundFrom the perspective of nurses, trauma patients in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) demand a high degree of nursing workload due to hemodynamic instability and the severity of trauma injuries. This study aims to identify the factors related to the high nursing workload required for trauma victims admitted to the ICU.MethodsThis is a prospective, cross-sectional study using descriptive and correlation analyses, conducted with 200 trauma patients admitted to an ICU in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. The nursing workload was measured using the Nursing Activities Score (NAS). The distribution of the NAS values into tertiles led to the identification of two research groups: medium/low workload and high workload. The Chi-square, Fisher's exact, Mann-Whitney and multiple logistic regression tests were utilized for the analyses.FindingsThe majority of patients were male (82.0%) and suffered blunt trauma (94.5%), with traffic accidents (57.5%) and falls (31.0%) being prevalent. The mean age was 40.7 years (±18.6) and the mean NAS was 71.3% (±16.9). Patient gender, the presence of pulmonary failure, the number of injured body regions and the risk of death according to the Simplified Acute Physiology Score II were factors associated with a high degree of nursing workload in the first 24 hours following admission to the ICU.ConclusionWorkload demand was higher in male patients with physiological instability and multiple severe trauma injuries who developed pulmonary failure.

BackgroundThe objective of this study is to propose three new adjustments to the Trauma and Injury Severity Score (TRISS) equation and compare their performances with the original TRISS as well as this index with coefficients adjusted for the study population.MethodsThis multicenter, retrospective study evaluated trauma victims admitted to two hospitals in São Paulo-Brazil and San Diego-EUA between January 1st, 2006, and December 31st, 2010. The proposed models included a New Trauma and Injury Severity Score (NTRISS)-like model that included Best Motor Response (BMR), systolic blood pressure (SBP), New Injury Severity Score (NISS), and age variables; a TRISS peripheral oxygen saturation (SpO2) model that included Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), SBP, SpO2, Injury Severity Score, and age variables; and a NTRISS-like SpO2 model that included BMR, SBP, SpO2, NISS, and age variables. All equations were adjusted for blunt and penetrating trauma coefficients. The model coefficients were established by logistic regression analysis. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate the performance of the models.ResultsThe original TRISS (area under the curve (AUC) = 0.90), TRISS with adjusted coefficients (AUC = 0.89), and the new proposals (NTRISS-like, TRISS SpO2, and NTRISS-like SpO2) showed no difference in performance (AUC = 0.89, 0.89, and 0.90, respectively).ConclusionsThe new models demonstrated good accuracy and similar performance to the original TRISS and TRISS adjusted for coefficients in the study population; therefore, the new proposals may be useful for the assessments of quality of care in trauma patients using variables that are routinely measured and recorded.

The study's objectives were to compare nursing workload among adults, elderly and very elderly patients, including in the analyses the interventions and evolution of the workload between admission and discharge. This prospective longitudinal study involved 600 adult patients in general ICU in four city hospitals in Sao Paulo. The results showed that, independent of the age, it had the similarity of the nursing workload in the admission, as well as in the evolution of the patients' care. Differences between the groups were observed in the NAS on ICU's discharge and the following instrument's items: Monitoring and titration and Hygiene procedures in admission, Respiratory support and Intravenous hyperalimentation in discharge and Mobilization and positioning in discharge and admission. In conclusion, the results evidenced that the age interfered only in specific aspects of the nursing workload required by patients in ICUs.

Este estudo objetivou comparar as características clínicas, evolução e gravidade de pacientes adultos internados em Unidades de Terapia Intensiva públicas e privadas. Trata-se de uma análise retrospectiva, longitudinal e quantitativa de 600 pacientes admitidos em quatro Unidades de Terapia Intensiva em São Paulo, Brasil. Diferenças foram encontradas entre os pacientes admitidos nos hospitais privados e públicos em relação às seguintes variáveis: idade, procedência, tempo de internação e mortalidade na unidade crítica, insuficiências cardiológica, hematológica, neurológica e renal, além de algumas comorbidades. Tais resultados revelam a importância de se analisar detalhadamente as características clínicas e a assistência prestada aos pacientes admitidos em instituições públicas, frente a maior mortalidade encontrada. O Enfermeiro de Terapia Intensiva pode contribuir para alterar esse panorama, visto que detém um papel de liderança no planejamento assistencial e na provisão de recursos necessários para assistência intensiva.

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