Variations of nursing care in patients with COVID-19 in the northern region of Brazil

Abstract

Although nurses are directly involved in the treatment of patients with COVID-19, their possibilities and limits in dealing with the disease are not well defined. This is at least partly due to the fact that nursing procedures are still being modified. This study aimed to analyze the variations in nursing care for patients with COVID-19 in the public health network in a municipality in the northern region of Brazil. This is a retrospective observational study in which data from the medical records of 499 patients hospitalized in the public health network of the city of Marabá, Brazil, between March and October 2020 were cataloged. The sample was divided into two groups: the first group consisted of the medical records of patients hospitalized between March and June (1st semester, n = 327) and the second group consisted of the medical records of patients hospitalized between July and October 2020 (2nd semester, n = 172). Regarding the 1st semester of 2020, it was observed that 16 nursing care (59.3%) were statistically lower than those of the 2nd semester of 2020 and eight nursing care (29.6%) were statistically higher than those of the 2nd semester of 2020. Furthermore, three nursing care (11.1%) did not show significant differences between the 2 semesters. Overall, the percentage of nursing care increased from the 1st to the 2nd semester (52.8 ± 17.6% vs. 62.7 ± 5.1%, P < 0.001); the greatest changes occurred in relation to the musculoskeletal system (37.3 ± 22.9% vs. 53.3 ± 7.7%, P < 0.001). In conclusion, in the initial months of the pandemic, nursing care was less intense, which may have been a consequence of the lack of knowledge about COVID-19. This may have had a negative impact on epidemiological data from the beginning of the pandemic.