title: Nursing care of patients with disorders of consciousness.
abstract: Management of severely brain-injured patients constitutes a social, economical, and ethical dilemma as well as a real challenge for the medical staff, as it requires specific expertise. The aim of this article is to explore the aspects of nursing care in patients recovering from coma such as difficulty of diagnosis, residual perception, clinical assessment, care and management, and communication with the patient and the family. The nursing care of patients with disorder of consciousness must be particular and specific for various reasons such as the difficult diagnosis, the problem of unconsciousness or lack of demonstration of consciousness, extremely complex clinical assessment, daily management with total dependence, communication with patients that requires special attention and training by health professionals, and communication with the family of these patients that requires more sensitivity and full involvement by the team.
authors.affiliation: Research Group about Communication in Nursing at School of Nursing, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. claudiapuggina@usp.br
authors.forename: Ana Cláudia Giesbrecht
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Puggina
authors.forename: Maria Júlia
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Paes da Silva
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schnakers
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Laureys
mesh_terms: D003128:Coma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000451:nursing*; D003142:Communication; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods; D018458:Persistent Vegetative State / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000451:nursing*; D011368:Professional-Family Relations