HIGIENE CORPORAL EM PACIENTES GRAVEMENTE ENFERMOS: AVALIAÇÃO DOS SINAIS VITAIS

• DOI: 10.22533/at.ed.13223051212

• Palavras-chave: Higiene corporal. Banho de leito. Pacientes gravemente enfermos. Sinais vitais.

• Keywords: Body hygiene. Bed bath. Critically ill patients. Vital signs.

• Abstract: Body hygiene is a nursing exclusive procedure, in which professionals should be alert to changes in vital signs, especially after the body hygiene in critically ill patients hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) due to hemodynamic instability. This is a descriptive study, exploratory and transversal, with a quantitative approach, based on information found in the medical records of the patients. The present work aimed to evaluate the changes in vital signs after the body hygiene in critically ill patients, of both sexes and with more than 18 years old, who were hospitalized in the ICU of a hospital located in the Vale dos Sinos region, in Rio Grande do Sul. It also tried to trace the profile in critically ill patients and identify changes that may be involved in ventilatory pattern. Data collection was conducted during the months of December 2013 to February 2014. Ninety-seven records have been investigated and the following variables were assessed: vital signs (HR, RR, SAT and MAP) before and after the body hygiene in critically ill patients. We have found statistically significant changes (p = 0.01) in the variable PAM post-body hygiene, which had an increase compared with the average of this parameter before the body hygiene. This finding must be related to peripheral vasodilation of blood vessels in critically ill patients, whose decompression causes variation in blood pressure, not discarding the hypothesis of hypovolemia in the subjects. It was found that most of the hospitalized patients were female (55.7%), aging from 18 to 91, with an average of approximately 51 years. The stay lasted from one to 19 days, with an average of six days. We concluded that the study contributed to the data collection and evaluation of changes in vital signs after the body hygiene in critically ill patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. Issues related to bed bath were deepened regarding the changes in vital signs, also it has been an incentive to increase researches about the body hygiene in critically ill patients. The results of this study favored to know local data and stimulate the expansion of researches into this subject.