Impact of Wound Dressing Changes on Nursing Workload in an Intensive Care Unit.

The objective of this study is to understand how the type of wound dressing changes (routine or frequent) in patients admitted to intensive care units influences nurses' workload. This study used a database of retrospective and analytical observational study from one Portuguese intensive care unit. The sample included 728 adult patients admitted between 2015 and 2019. The nursing workload was assessed by the TISS-28 scale, both at admission and at discharge. The linear regression results show that patients with frequent dressing changes are associated with a higher nursing workload, both at admission (Coef. 1.65; 95% CI [0.53; 2.77]) and discharge (Coef. 1.27; 95% CI [0.32; 2.22]). In addition, age influences the nursing workload; older people are associated with a higher nursing workload (at admission Coef. 0.07; 95% CI [0.04; 0.10]; at discharge Coef. 0.08; 95% CI [0.05; 0.10]). Additionally, an increase in nursing workload at admission would significantly increase the nursing workload at discharge (Coef. 0.27; 95% CI [0.21; 0.33]). The relative stability of the nursing workload over the studied years is also another important finding (the influence of studied years is non-significant). In conclusion, patients with frequent dressing changes presented higher TISS-28 scores when compared with patients with an exchange of routine dressings, which leads to a higher nursing workload.

Questões éticas em enfermagem: uma análise de problemas éticos em pequisas envolvendo seres humanos / Ethical subjects in nursing: ethical problems analysis research involving human beings

Em pesquisas com seres humanos, devem ser preservados os princípios bioéticos fundamentais. Objetivo deste estudo: levantamento de problemas éticos em pesquisas de enfermeiros, a partir de pareceres dos membros do Comitê de Ética em Pesquisa da FAMERP. Estudo descritivo exploratório, retrospectivo. Foram analisados todos os pareceres (2001 a 2002), através de um roteiro de coleta. A maioria dos pesquisadores pertenciam à FAMERP (85 por cento); os projetos foram realizados principalmente no Hospital de Base (44 por cento); 68 por cento dos projetos estavam adequados; 32 por cento inadequados; 100 por cento considerados relevantes; 60 por cento apresentavam benefícios diretos; 68 por cento dos termos de consentimento estavam adequados, mas 19 por cento apresentavam informação deficiente. Chamou-nos a atenção a estrutura do protocolo onde 21 por cento continham campos inadequados. Destaca-se a necessidade de Educação Continuada junto a estes profissionais.