[Iatrogenic events with medications at the intensive care unit: procedures and feelings expressed by nurses]

Iatrogenic occurrences with medication in ICU are adverse events that demand nurse's interventions. The aims of this study were:- to identify nurse's procedures and feelings in this situation;- to characterize factors related to this kind of event in ICU settings. A questionnaire was answered by 148 ICU nurses (76.7%) from 7 hospitals in São Paulo city, in 1997 and 1998. The results showed that of 407 mentioned procedures, 31.7% included to communicate the event to the doctor, followed by to intensify the patient control (26.5%). Regarding the 260 feelings informed by the nurses, anxiety and impotence were the most frequent, respectively, 38.1% and 14.6%. Of 303 factors related to the occurrences nurses pointed out neglect (24.6%) and professional inexperience (15.1%) as the most important. Forty three point two per cent (43.2%) of the nurses hardly experimented this situation in their professional life in ICU.