Challenges to the provision of comprehensive nursing care to burn patients: an integrative review

Abstract

The burn is a trauma of great complexity, difficult to treat, being classified as an injury caused by direct contact with some source, they are: heat or cold, chemicals, electric current, radiation, or even some animals and plants. It is worth pointing out that the skin, a vital organ to the human being, in view of its great importance as compared to the exposure of burn victims, emphasizing that it is fundamental to the formation of the concept of self-esteem and self-image of people. The objective is to analyze the performance and role of professional nurses facing patients with burns of high complexity in hospital care. This is an integrative literature review, which was produced based on the filtering of references available in the Virtual Health Library. The following health descriptors were used: Nursing Care; Burns; Burned Units. Only articles found in full format in the Virtual Health Library were included, with a maximum publication time of up to 5 years, that is, accepted for publication in the years 2016 to 2021, available for full reading in Portuguese, English and Spanish. Incomplete texts were excluded, as well as articles unavailable in the Virtual Health Library; besides texts with publication time longer than five years, i.e., published before 2015; and also in languages other than those mentioned above. In analysis of the 08 categorized references, it is seen that there is a consensus on the role of nursing, showing that the role of this professional, especially in burns, should start from a humanized care, due to the high degree of vulnerability that these patients usually arrive at the health unit. Within all articles discussed during the theoretical foundation, it is clear that there is a great similarity in the ideas brought by these authors, showing that the care of nursing professionals in relation to burns should be directed to both physical and psychological aspects of these patients, in order to prevent injuries and minimize sequelae left by this type of incident. In addition, nursing plays a key role in the clinical evolution of the patient, either by relieving pain, therapeutic administration, providing psycho-emotional support to burn patients and their families, in addition to other responsibilities that concern nurses, all based on scientific evidence, which supports professional practice. Thus, it is essential a greater discussion on the subject, to obtain techniques and protocols that can provide quality individual care to burn patients.