Electroconvulsive therapy: historical construction of nursing care (1989-2002)

Abstract

Objective: to describe the nursing care performed by the nursing team to the person with mental disorder submitted to ECT and to analyze the implications of the Psychiatric Reform in this care. Method: socio-historical study, which uses the Thematic Oral History method. Results: the nursing team is present in a continuous way in the monitoring of people submitted to ECT, performing care before, during and after the same, as well as visualizing the evolution of the technique and also of nursing care itself, however, does not recognize the Psychiatric Reform as agent for this change. Final considerations: the Brazilian Psychiatric Reform triggered a process of humanization of nursing knowledge, influencing the care of the person with mental disorder submitted to ECT, with this, care practices also changed, a law was approved, regulating its practice, and its application was decreasing.

Convulsive therapy in Brazilian psychiatric practice

“…Before the ECT, the nurse monitored the patient's fasting, kept his/her hair clean and dry, and inserted the mouth guard. During the ECT, the nurse held the patient so that no falls or musculoskeletal injuries occurred during the tonic-clonic crisis and, after the ECT, the nurse had to check the patient's vital signs, feed him/ her, and monitor his/her time/space orientation skills (Guimarães et al, 2018). Since its creation in 1934, ECT's technique has undergone numerous modifications, of which the most considered is the mandatory use of short-duration anesthesia, promoting unconsciousness in the pre-convulsion period and partial muscle relaxation, avoiding fractures and muscle aches.…”