OBJECTIVES: to describe the use of phototherapy in the day to day clinical practice by healthcare professionals of public maternity hospitals in the city of Rio de Janeiro. METHODS: heads of healthcare departments, doctors and nurses of 17 public maternity hospitals were interviewed on issues related to phototherapy management in their services. RESULTS: eighty nine healthcare professionals were interviewed. Seventy four per cent of the doctors noted there was a written guideline for neonatal jaundice management in their departments but with a great variation of responses related to the medical conduct adopted, including among professionals working in the same unit, 74% of doctors prescribed prophylactic phototherapy and 64% said they increased fluid intake during treatment. Distance placed between the newborn and the irradiance source varied from 20 to 70 cms. Half of the respondents noted the lack of guidelines to verify irradiation during phototherapy. A marked variation of bilirubin serum levels were used for phototherapy and exchange blood transfusion indications. CONCLUSIONS: our findings suggest the lack of consensus among healthcare professionals related to the use of phototherapy and that some of the routinely adopted practices could impair treatment efficacy.
Jaundice; Infant newborn; Phototherapy; Hyperbilirubinemia
