Nursing diagnoses in a Brazilian intensive care unit.
OBJECTIVE
To identify the nursing diagnoses and their most frequent related factors or risk factors in patients admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU).


METHODS
Descriptive cross-sectional study with information from 991 admissions to an ICU during a 6-month period.


RESULTS
Sixteen nursing diagnoses resulting from hospitalization were most frequently identified; six had percentages greater than 40% with 29 related/risk factors. The resulting averages were 6.9 diagnoses per hospitalization and 1.2 related/risk factors per nursing diagnoses.


CONCLUSIONS
The nursing diagnoses identified seemed to be common to the clinical practice of nursing and their fundamental related/risk factors to precise clinical judgment, thus providing a basis for interventions for a desired outcome.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings have contributed to the development of the standardized nursing language usage in Brazilian nursing practices.
de Fátima Lucena
Amália
A
School of Nursing, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. fatimalucena@terra.com.br
de Barros
Alba Lúcia Bottura Leite
AL
D001938:Brazil; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003422:Critical Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D016294:Models, Nursing; D009733:Nursing Diagnosis / Q000145:classification / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009736:Nursing Process / Q000458:organization & administration; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D018875:Vocabulary, Controlled