Nurses' participation on the use of antimicrobials in long-stay institutions.

• Grant number: 22/13108-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: January 01, 2023
• End date: August 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Nursing
• Principal Investigator: Rosely Moralez de Figueiredo
• Grantee: Nathalia Valentim Jarina
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde (CCBS). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The aging of the population is a natural process that generates great impact on global public health. The elderly require greater care, including health care. In this context, long-stay institutions for elderly, which can be public or private, become an alternative in providing care for the elderly, when this care cannot be provided by the family. Considering the physiological characteristics of the elderly, they are more prone to develop certain pathologies, and, in relation to infectious diseases, the Urinary tract infections are the most common. In this way, the elderly often residing in long-stay institutions needs the use of antimicrobials. However, these institutions are not considered health establishments, and, medical care is often fragmented. In this scenario, nurses are indispensable professionals within these institutions and can play a key role in the indication of antimicrobials in this scope, because they are in constant monitoring of the elderly, identifying clinical signs and symptoms that may be related to the presence of an infectious process and are in strategic position for contact with the prescriber. In this way, to identify perspective of the nurse, how the indication of antimicrobials occurs in the long-stay institutions makes it possible to understand the flow of this process, the impact that the nurse has on the prescriber's decision making and the identification of weaknesses in the process of rationalizing the prescription and use of antimicrobials.