Protocol for dimensioning Nursing in the quality of care for critically ill patients

Abstract

Purpose: The use of protocols guides and supports professionals in their conduct, providing greater transparency and cost control, minimizing variability of information and conduct. Their use is capable to further better safety for users and professionals, in addition to improve the use of sustainable care practices and the incorporation of new technologies. This study aimed to create a care technology in the form of a protocol in order to develop a Protocol for the Dimensioning of the Nursing staff applied by the ICU care nurse to prepare a daily care schedule in a systematic way, with the purpose of assist in a safe way, ensuring quality to the 10 hospitalized patients. Methodology: At first, an integrative literature review was used as theoretical support in the development of this study to survey existing materials, tools and instruments on the use of indicators and their application in the adequate dimensioning of the nursing team. As a second step, with case study about the scenario, the main variables that interfere in the quality and safety of the nursing care provided in this ICU were surveyed. Finally, a protocol was developed for sizing the nursing staff, with the purpose of standardizing the preparation of the daily nursing care scale for ICU patients. Results: Through the integrative literature review it was possible to observe that the scientific studies about the Safety and Quality of the assistance in ICU have been growing since 2010, which can be linked to the creation of the Safety of the Patient National Program in 2013. There was also evidence that the use of indicators to measure quality has been rising, as well as the monitoring and registring of the efficiency and working pattern of the Intensive Care Units. Later, through the case study, 01 economic-financial indicator, 01 management indicator and 02 quality indicators were generated. Finally, through the use of the protocol, it is expected the systematization of the dimensioning and daily distribution of nursing staff in search of better care and management practices. Conclusion: The use of patient classification scales, indicators, and care protocols can strongly contribute to improving the quality of nursing care, avoiding wear and tear and harm to the worker and reducing failures in care due because inadequate quantitative and qualitative nursing sizing. Through the use of the Nursing Dimensioning Protocol in the ICU, it is expected the systematization of the sizing and daily distribution of nursing staff for assistance in search of better care and management practices resulting in the improvement of the nursing care.