Brazilian Nursing Communication Symposium
SIBRACEN

Abstract

Tabet Karla, Castro Rosiani C. B. Ribeiro de. The use of touch as a humanization agent in icu nursing care. In: Proceedings of the 8. Brazilian Nursing Communication Symposium [Proceedings online]; 2002  May 02-03; São Paulo, SP, Brazil. 2002 [cited 2024 Apr 20]. Available from: URL: http://www.proceedings.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=MSC0000000052002000200034&lng=en&nrm=van .

The present study was born from apprehension about nursing professionals’ use of touch as a humanization factor in care at an intensive care unit. Research was developed as a quantitative-qualitative study, using an observation script for collecting data on the touches that were actually used, which were measured according to format (body part touched, time, duration of contact and action that caused it) and contents (type of touch and non-verbal language observed), with a view to a comparative analysis of the use of touch by nursing teams at an adult and pediatric ICU in a private institution. One of the main observations disclosed the higher incidence of instrumental touch in both units, although a larger number of expressive/affective touches occurred at the adult ICU.

Keywords : non-verbal communication; touch; humanization.