OBJECTIVE: To investigate nursing research in critical care in Brazil from 1995 to 2004. METHODS: Selected articles from ten Brazilian scientific journals were analyzed regarding frequency of publication, authorship, research methodology, topic, and study population. RESULTS: Among 3464 published articles, only 97 (2.8%) were related to critical care. A great part of these studies (38.1%) was conducted by Master's or Doctoral graduate students. Almost a half of the studies (49.5%) used qualitative design. Main topics studied consisted of the professional performance of worker involved on care (23.7%) and emotional aspects of nursing care (21.6%). Iatrogenic occurrences also emerge as an important topic. Nursing team was a common sample (50.0%) of the studies. CONCLUSION: Nursing research in critical care in Brazil although incipient remains stable in the last two decades.
Publications; Nursing research; Scientific communication and diffusion; Intensive care
