Attitudes of nursing professionals in adverse events in neonatal and pediatric intensive care

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the attitudes of nursing professionals towards structural and process factors that may predispose to adverse events in neonatal and pediatric intensive care units. Method: Cross-sectional study carried out in two public hospitals in Northeast Brazil in 2019. A sociodemographic/professional questionnaire and the Adverse Events Predisposition Scale were applied to 100 nursing professionals. The tests ANOVA, Tukey and of Student’s t were used to compare the means of the ideal and real scales, according to the sociodemographic variables, adopting p < 0.05. Results: Most professionals demonstrated low and medium perception of structure and process factors. A statistically significant association was found in the process dimension with: age group of 40–49 years, neonatal unit/hospital 2, and relation with a cooperative. Conclusion: Nursing professionals in neonatal/pediatric intensive care units have low and medium perception of factors predisposing to adverse events, which deserves investment from leaders to avoid that inadequate perceptions result in harm to patients.