PREVIEW NOTES

Work and care in the actions of the nursing technician: a descriptive study

Rildo Santos Loureiro¹, Ana Lúcia Abrahão²

^1,2 Fluminense Federal University

ABSTRACT
This is a study linked to the Academic Masters in Health Care Sciences of Aurora de Afonso Costa Nursing School.
Primary Aim: To identify the work processes of nursing technicians in a hospital environment.
Method: This is a descriptive study, adopting a qualitative approach, to be performed with regard to nursing technicians who work in the Medical Clinic Infirmary of Macaé Public Hospital. To collect the data, semi-structured interviews will be used, during the period from August to December 2013. The data analysis will start from the sensitive core, with the analysis of content, according to Bardin.
Descriptors: Hospital Care; Allied Health Personnel; Workflow

PROBLEM SITUATION AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

The workflow in health is characterized by the need for multiple formats in doing, which are led by professionals on a daily basis. In the actions performed by the nursing team, the technician plays a significant part of these actions, having his workflow linked hierarchically to the nurse⁽¹⁾.

Nursing technicians make up around 50% of the workforce in the field of health. However, investigation into this professional’s work and an articulated debate about his practices is barely represented in the scientific articles in the area of nursing⁽¹⁾.

The scenario in which the outcomes of the work of nursing technicians is most prominent is in the hospital, which, for many decades, has been established as important institutions in the field of health in Brazil. Such institutions work as an entry to the Brazilian health system by incorporating a great number of health aspects such as medical consultations, medical examinations and emergencies.

Today, hospitals are becoming more humanized according to the Brazilian National Policy of Humanization (PNH, in Portuguese), which reinforces the need for a social bond during hospitalization, this being one of the strategies that help to re-establish the health of the user⁽²⁾.

Among the activities developed by nursing staff in a hospital environment, treating and caring for the body are present in a unique and singular relationship⁽³⁾. Hence, this study is about the work process of the nursing technician in a hospital environment.

GUIDING QUESTIONS

How is the workflow of the nursing technician created in practical terms in a hospital environment? What are the tools and the healthcare techniques that the nursing technician uses in his daily work? What is the relationship of the nursing technician with the hospitalized user and with the health team?

AIMS

Primary

To determine the workflow of the nursing technician in a hospital environment.

Specific

To identify the tools used by the nursing technician in his work; to analyze the production processes involved in caring in terms of the nursing technician towards the hospitalized user; to analyze the production processes of the nursing technician with regard to the multiprofessional team and with the nursing team.

METHOD

This is a descriptive study, which adopts a qualitative approach, as it answers particular questions related to the reality it aims to investigate. Because it is not quantified, it permits a further discussion of the world of human meanings, actions and relationships. The scenario of this research is the Medical Clinic Infirmary of Macaé Public Hospital “Dr. Fernando Pereira da Silva”, in the city of Macaé. The subjects of this study are nursing technicians who will take part in the research according to the following criteria: to be working as a nursing technician in the Medical Clinic Infirmary Macaé Public Hospital “Dr. Fernando Pereira da Silva”; to be working directly as a nursing technician with patients in the Medical Clinic Infirmary of the above-mentioned public hospital; to have at least one year’s work experience in the Medical Clinic team of the above-mentioned hospital. Excluded from this study will be outsourced professionals, and those who work in other parts of the above-mentioned hospital. The instruments to be used in this investigation are simple field observation, field diaries as a tool to register information and permit further reflections of the daily life to better theorize the research, and semi-structured interviews. The data will be collected from August to December 2013, and the treatment of this information will be organized from the material collected in the field, based on the sensitive core, involving content analysis, according to Bardin.

REFERENCES

1. Abrahão AL, Cassal LCB. Caminhos para integralidade na educação profissional técnica de nível médio em saúde. Revisão Bibliográfica. Trab. Educ. saúde. 2009; v. 7 n. 2: 249-264.

2. Sanches ICP, Abrahão AL. The companion and the challenges of hospital care: access or barrier? A descriptive study. Online braz j nurs [ Internet ]. 2011 December [ Cited 2013 Sep 13 ] 10 (3). Available from: http://www.objnursing.uff.br/index.php/nursing/article/view/3297. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.5935/1676-4285.20113297

3. Abrahão, AL, Lagrange, V. O técnico de enfermagem: uma prática comprometida com o feminino. “In” Geisler, Abrahão, Coimbra. Subjetividade, violência e direitos humanos: Produzindo Novos Dispositivos na Formação em Saúde.– Niterói: EdUFF, 2008. 89-109.

PROJECT DATA
The Project “Work and care in the actions of the nursing technician: a descriptive study” is linked to the Academic Master in Health Care Sciences, of the Aurora de Afonso Costa  Nursing School, in Fluminense Federal University and in the Nucleus of Study and Research in Management and Labor in Health (NUPGES, in Portuguese).
Approved by the Ethics in Research Committee of Fluminense Federal University, under register CAAE 13373113.9.0000.5243
Tutor: Prof. Dr. Ana Lúcia Abrahão da Silva
Financial Support Agency: Not available.

Received:  31/08/2013
Revised:  24/09/2013
Approved:  26/09/2013