Roberta de Lima Cavalcanti

Challenges Faced by the Nursing Team in the Care of Burned Victim: Literature Review

Introduction: burned patient care needs the involvement of a multidisciplinary team, and nursing as a key role in this care since it is the professional category that is in constant contact with the patient and his family. However, nursing faces challenges on the care for burned victims and their constant exposure to suffering and pain. Objective: to identify the challenges of the nursing staff in the care of burned patients according to scientific literature. Method: this is a literature research, conducted between April and May/2016 in the Latin American databases and Caribbean Health Sciences (LILACS), the Nursing Database (BDENF) and the Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System online (MEDLINE), available on the Virtual Health Library (VHL), and Google Scholar, using the key words: “Nursing” and “Burn Units” with Boolean operator AND. The keywords crossing resulted in 282 scientific publications, of which 14 articles were selected addressing the topic, through the inclusion criteria: full-text availability, published between 2011 to May/2016, in Portuguese and English. The articles in duplicate (published in more than one selected database) were excluded. Results: The following challenges were observed in the nursing staff: assistance to the burned patient and guided planning in the Nursing Process (NP), related to the appropriate hemodynamic monitoring, control of infectious processes and pain; emotional professional support that the victims watch sensitized, exposed to pain, suffering, and guilt, often involved in the professional-patient-family cycle, arousing mixed feelings of grief and gratitude. Conclusions: It is necessary to understand these challenges and provide continuing education and inputs that support assistance guided to the nursing process. Moreover, it is essential to promote emotional support through health institution, encouraging professionals to report their anguish and difficulties to cope with the stressful and limiting factors in the work process involving the care of burned victims.