ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: to analyze the defining characteristics of the nursing diagnosis "ineffective airway clearance" in children with acute respiratory infection. METHOD: cross-sectional descriptive study, developed in two hospitals specialized in care for children. It was held a detailed respiratory evaluation of the child to identify the defining characteristics of the diagnosis under study. RESULTS: a total of 249 children were evaluated, 55.8% were male and the median age was 13.76 months. Ineffective airway clearance was identified in 222 children (89.2%). The following defining characteristics presented statistically significant associations: dyspnea, expectoration, orthopnea, respiratory adventitious sounds, decreased breath sounds and ineffective cough. Decreased breath sounds, ineffective cough and respiratory adventitious sounds composed the logistic regression model. CONCLUSION: the characteristics decreased breath sounds, ineffective cough and respiratory adventitious sounds have better predictive capacity for the diagnosis "ineffective airway clearance" in children with acute respiratory infection.
Subject(s)
Nursing Diagnosis , Respiratory Sounds , Respiratory Tract Diseases/diagnosis , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Hospitals , Humans , Infant , Male , Mucociliary ClearanceABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to identify the defining characteristics that allow clinical differentiation of the nursing diagnoses, ineffective breathing pattern (IBP), ineffective airway clearance (IAC), and impaired gas exchange (IGE). A secondary analysis with a cohort design was developed from 1128 records obtained during the hospital stay of 136 children with acute respiratory infection. Groups of defining characteristics with greater differentiation capacity were identified by multiple correspondence analyses. The results showed that the defining characteristics that better differentiate the studied diagnoses are agitation, irritability and diaphoresis for IGE; dyspnea, use of accessory muscles to breathe, orthopnea, and abnormal breathing pattern for IBP and excessive sputum, absence of cough, difficulty verbalizing, nasal flaring, and adventitious breath sounds for IAC. Twelve defining characteristics that can assist clinicians to differentiate the three main respiratory nursing diagnoses among children with acute respiratory infection were identified in this study.
