Do frail elderly people affect the nursing workload in intensive care units?

ABSTRACT Objective: Compare the nursing workload according to the condition of frailty in elderly people in an intensive care unit (ICU). Method: A cross-sectional study whose sample included patients aged ≥60 years who were hospitalized for ≥24 hours in the ICU of a university hospital in São Paulo, Brazil. The Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI) was used to identify frailty in elderly people and the Nursing Activities Score (NAS) was used to measure the nursing workload. Results: In a sample of 204 elderly people, frailty was found in 156 (76.5%). The elderly people contributed to high nursing workload (mean NAS 75.9) on the first day in the ICU, but frailty did not significantly change the NAS (p = 0.606) (frail 75.7 versus non-frail 76.5), either based on the mean value or the proportion of patients in each category. Conclusion: The condition of frailty in elderly people did not increase the nursing workload in the ICU.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tanabe,Fabiola Mika, Zanei,Suely Sueko Viski, Whitaker,Iveth Yamaguchi
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: Universidade de São Paulo, Escola de Enfermagem 2022
Online Access:http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0080-62342022000100501
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:ABSTRACT Objective: Compare the nursing workload according to the condition of frailty in elderly people in an intensive care unit (ICU). Method: A cross-sectional study whose sample included patients aged ≥60 years who were hospitalized for ≥24 hours in the ICU of a university hospital in São Paulo, Brazil. The Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI) was used to identify frailty in elderly people and the Nursing Activities Score (NAS) was used to measure the nursing workload. Results: In a sample of 204 elderly people, frailty was found in 156 (76.5%). The elderly people contributed to high nursing workload (mean NAS 75.9) on the first day in the ICU, but frailty did not significantly change the NAS (p = 0.606) (frail 75.7 versus non-frail 76.5), either based on the mean value or the proportion of patients in each category. Conclusion: The condition of frailty in elderly people did not increase the nursing workload in the ICU.