Abstract

Introduction: Patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit develop the most complications because they are submitted to invasive procedures, thus being a high-risk population for Health Care Associated Infections. Infections associated with devices such as Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), Central Venous Catheter (CVC) and Intubation Associated Pneumonia (IAP) are the most common in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and therefore require effective measures for their prevention, such as hand hygiene and the applicability of Intervention Beams (IF) by nurses.

Objective: To identify factors related to IF application by nurses of a Portuguese Intensive Care Unit.

Method: Descriptive-correlational, cross-sectional, quantitative approach study, with a sample of 44 nurses, from the Intensive Care Unit, of a Hospital Center located in northern Portugal, in which a questionnaire was applied.

Results and Discussion: The majority of the sample was female (72.7%), belonged to the age group between 38 - 50 years (57%), and had a degree (95.5%). In terms of professional experience, the majority (61.4%) of nurses had between 16 - 30 years of professional exercise time, and between 9 - 20 years of exercise time in the Intensive Care Unit (59.2%). The majority (80.0%) of nurses surveyed responded that they needed to address the Intervention Beams in continuous training. Regarding preventive procedures, most (79.5%) reported that the use of gloves prevents infection and does not perform audits (86.4%) for the three types of infection under study: UTI, CVC and PAI. The IF score of UTI and PAI differs significantly between the sexes (Student's T: p < 0.047 and p < 0.037); the IF of UTI and PAI and the categories of exercise time in ICU and professional exercise, respectively (Student's T: p < 0.026 and p < 0.001); and between the average of the IF score ordering of PAI and the use of gloves (Kruskal-Wallis: p < 0.022). The sample nurses demonstrated some knowledge about the application of IF by experience and time of professional exercise.

Conclusion: Nurses in general apply IFs to the three measures of infection under study, recommended by the Directorate General of Health. Factors related to the application of Intervention Beams are socio-demographic characteristics, time of professional exercise in the Intensive Care Unit, preventive procedures and audits.

Keywords: Nursing Audit; Critical Care; Nurses; Prevention and Control

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