[Functional health patterns and nursing diagnosis in intensive care units]

The evaluation of the critically ill patient to develop a suitable care plan is one of the main objectives of the practices of Medico-Surgery for students of third year of the nursing degree. So as to be able to detect all the needs in the patients and settle priorities in their care we have carried out a physical evaluation and the 11 health functional patterns of Gordon (1982), which has allowed us to formulate the most frequent diagnosis of nursing in the patients hospitalized in the Intensive Care Units of the Hospital Son Dureta of Palma de Mallorca. The collection of data for the evaluation of the patterns of autoperception, adaptation to stress and to the family, has been scarce due to the critical situation of the patient and the tendency of nursing professionals to register the evaluation data which indicate alterations of the physical condition of the patient. The incapacity for self-care and the risk for infection have been the nursing diagnosis which all the patients of this study have shown.