IMPROVEMENT CYCLE FOR THE PROGRESSION OF FUNCTIONALITY PATIENTS ADMITTED TO THE INTENSIVE CARE UNIT
Descriptors: Functionality; Intensive care unit; Quality Improvement; Quality of Health Care.
Introduction: Functionality or functional capacity is the ability to carry out activities that enable a person to take care of themselves and live independently and autonomously. It is an important health marker for hospitalized patients since hospitalization can lead to numerous deleterious changes in the patient, damaging the musculoskeletal, cardiorespiratory, metabolic, and neurological systems. An important consequence of long periods of hospitalization is the muscle weakness acquired in the unit, leading to rapid functional decline that can negatively impact the hospitalized individual's quality of life, increasing care costs. Objective: To develop an improvement cycle to optimize the progression of functionality in patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit. Methodology: This is a quasi-experimental, before-after study, without a control group, with a quantitative approach, to be carried out in a public hospital in Pernambuco using an improvement cycle with the following stages: identification and prioritization of the opportunity for improvement through the application of Nominal Group Techniques and Prioritization Matrix; to understand the potential causes related to this opportunity for improvement, a Cause and Effect Diagram was carried out; subsequently, the quality criteria were surveyed, totaling nine criteria, and they were analyzed and validated, so that they could be evaluated in their compliance with the criteria. Finally, possible intervention proposals will be planned and implemented, to be later reassessed and compared. Expected results: It is expected that this research will be useful to implement good practices regarding the improvement of functionality in hospitalized patients and be relevant for application in other sectors of the hospital unit, reducing the risk of complications and improving the quality of life of patients. hospitalized.