Clinical characteristics of COVID-19 patients and the main nursing diagnoses

Abstract

AIMS: to present a reflection on the clinic of patients infected by COVID-19 and to propose the main nursing diagnoses based on International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP©). METHOD: this is a reflection study, in which the selection criteria used were articles indexed in the MEDLINE, LILACS and BDENF databases published between December 2019 and April 2020, in English and Portuguese. RESULTS: 10 scientific articles were part of the study, which made it possible to know the symptomatologic profile of the disease, with emphasis on the classic triad of COVID-19, which is cough, shortness of breath and fever. It revealed that the basic human need most affected in this patient profile is oxygenation in view of hypoxemia being the main complication, for which the clinical outcome was negative, especially in elderly patients. CONCLUSION: there was a shortage and studies related to nursing in the face of this pandemic, but it was possible to conclude that ICNP© is one of the taxonomies that can be used to implement nursing diagnoses and intervention, the most frequent nursing diagnoses are related to the basic human and social need for oxygenation and vascular regulation.