PURPOSE: To describe the sensorial perceptions of the nursing team regarding their burn out during nursing care. METHODS: This was a qualitative study using sociopoetic approach from the inter-personal relationships of the research group based on the dynamics of creativity and sensibility. The study was conducted in the beginning of 2008. Participants consisted of 11 nursing professionals from a municipal hospital in Rio de Janeiro. RESULTS: Based on Seligmann-Silva's concept of mental burn out and Araujo's concept of corporal sense, the study's findings suggested that the sensory effects of the vision and audition caused emotional burn out of the nursing team. Touch during debridement of wounds led to physical and psychic exhaustion. However, the strongest causes of burn out of the nursing team were the patients social problems related to the cause of their burns. CONCLUSIONS: The nursing team used defensive strategies to reduce psychic burn out and suffering during nursing care. This research allowed us to re-think nursing care through the subjective perceptions of the nursing team.
Nursing Care; Perception; Burn; Psychological Stress
