Objective:
To correlate severity of the patient and the nursing staff workload, using Simplified Acute Physiology Score (SAPS3) and Nursing Activities Score (NAS) indexes and comparing them between three subgroups: cardiac, neurological and general.
Methods:
Prospective cohort study, in an Intensive Care Unit of a private hospital in São Paulo, from August to October 2011.
Results:
There were 195 patients, 57.9% male, median age 69 years old. Moderate correlation between NAS and SAPS3 neurological subgroup (p = 0.02, r = 0.430). SAPS3 the general subgroup was higher compared to neurological subgroup (p = 0.002). The NAS is generally greater when compared to cardiac subgroup (p = 0.001).
Conclusion:
There was a moderate correlation between the severity of neurological patients and the nursing workload. The severity and nursing workload in the subgroup of general patients were higher in relation to neurological and cardiac patients, respectively.
Severity of illness index; Workload; Nursing; Intensive care units
