Routine care to hospitalized patients dependent

Resumo

This is about a qualitative study aiming at knowing the process of routine nursing care to dependent patients regarding feeding, personal hygiene and mobility, in the hospital context. Carried out in a Medical Clinic and a Surgery Clinic of a Public Hospital in Feira de Santana-BA, this study involved 17 members of the nursing team, through a semi-structured interview. For the data analysis, we used the Thematic Content Analysis, based on the presumption of care/caring by Colliere and other authors who study the issue. The results showed that most of the subjects admit the importance of these cares to patients and seem to be aware that such cares are to be done by the nursing staff. However, this function is done by relatives and, is held by the nursing team only when the patient is in critical conditions, when there is no companion and/or when this companion can not take care of the patient by himself. The services done by relatives are justified by overwork, the amount of patients and the reduced nursing team. We concluded that the routine cares for the personal hygiene, feeding and mobility, essential for the maintenance of life, and that must be carried out independently from the possibility of cure, are not valorized by the nursing staff. These patients’ companions are being care-takers and responsible for work off their duty, under the assumption that they are being prepared for home-care, without any supervision or instructions by the nurses.  Descriptors: nursing care; limitation of mobility; hospitalization.