Training profile of intensive care nurses in Brazil: cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Objectives: to describe the training profile of Brazilian intensive care nurses.

Methods: a cross-sectional study carried out in two stages: a structured, self-administered questionnaire; mapping of the national supply of lato sensu postgraduate courses. Data was collected on the sociodemographic profile, training process and characterization of the courses.

Results: in the first stage, 202 respondents were obtained. The majority were women (79.2%), aged between 26 and 45 (80.7%), graduated less than 5 years ago (44%), through lato sensu postgraduate courses (55.5%), which were marked by the absence of laboratory practice (57.5%) and guided tours (42.5%). In the second stage, 457 courses were identified, with face-to-face teaching (58.9%), a workload of 360 to 420 hours (51.2%), a duration of up to 6 months (41.8%) and variation in the sub-area of training.

Conclusions: there was a predominance of professionals graduating from lato sensu post-graduate courses, with essentially theoretical teaching and heterogeneity in terms of modality, workload and sub-area of training.