Suporte imediato de vida na pessoa em situação crítica: Contributos da intervenção do enfermeiro.

Background: Immediate life support (ILS) ambulances allow nurses to intervene in pre-hospital settings, supported by their technical-scientific knowledge and complex protocols of action and regulation through telemedicine. Objective: To analyze the contributions of nursing interventions in the evolution of the clinical state of critical patients. Methodology: Quantitative, descriptive-correlational, retrospective, and observational study conducted in ILS settings in northern Portugal. A total of 574 electronic clinical records were analyzed between 1 November and 31 December 2019, corresponding to the same number of people evaluated. The National Early Warning Score (NEWS) was used to assess the clinical evolution of critical patients. Results: There was a positive evolution of the NEWS score of critical patients after the intervention of ILS nurses (M = 4.43 ± 3.901 vs. 3.34 ± 3.329; sig < 0.001). Similarly, the clinical risk of critical patients decreased after the nurse's intervention. Conclusion: This study demonstrated the importance of nurses in prehospital care, as a guarantee of safety, quality, and continuous improvement of care for critical patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]