Percepção do enfermeiro sobre a assistência prestada à pessoa com ferida internada na Unidade de Pronto Atendimento

Abstract

Introduction: Wound treatment is a dynamic process, influenced by the systematic assessment of nurses in order to provide quality care. Many patients with a wound who seek care at the Emergency Care Unit (UPA) sometimes need to be transferred to the hospital, however, due to the lack of beds, they remain hospitalized at the UPA while waiting for a vacancy. Objective: To understand the care provided by nurses to people with wounds who, admitted to the emergency care unit, await transfer to the referral hospital. Method: This is an exploratory study, with a qualitative approach, using the Discourse of the Collective Subject (DSC) as a methodological reference, carried out with nurses working in direct care, during the day, at an Emergency Care Unit (UPA) located in the interior of the state of Minas Gerais (MG). Data collection was performed through semi-structured interviews. Results: Thirteen nurses participated in the study. It was possible to understand that, in general, nursing technicians end up assuming the responsibility for assessing the wound and deciding whether or not the nurse needs to assess it, given the severity of the injury. Also, sometimes it is the nursing technician who makes the decision about which dressing to use, applies the dressing regardless of the complexity of the injury, and without the supervision of the nurse. The nurses identified the need to know more about injuries and dressings, since the profile of patients has required knowledge and updating on this topic, proposing, for this purpose, training and qualification, or even the adoption of a specialized dressing team. Conclusion: Caring for a patient with a wound admitted to the UPA becomes challenging, since interruptions, which occur with a certain frequency, result in fragmented care, which may be resumed late or even not resumed, generating discontinuity in care by the nurse who often leaves wound care to the nursing technician.