Characteristics of central venous pressure measurement in intensive care units in public hospitals

Objective: to analyze the methodology of Central Venous Pressure measurement in Intensive Care Units of public hospitals in the city of Recife-PE identifying the External Reference Point. Method: this is a study of observation with the participation of 36 health professionals from nine public hospitals. The data was collected with a device validated by experts, after approved by the Ethics and Research Committee of Agamenon Magalhães Hospital, under protocol N° 54, CAAE-1219.0.000.236-10. Results: 41% declared that they had not received training; 39% did not perform hand washing and 75% did not use a level indicator to confirm the phlebostatic axis. There was no identification for the solution in use (94%) or the equipment (67%). The prevalent External Reference Point was the External Line, but there was not a standard among these hospitals. Performing this analysis descriptively, it was noticed that the nurses had a better performance compared to the average of the nursing assistants, as well as between hospital staff that presented manual of standards and routines compared to those in institutions that had not been working with the manual. Conclusion: taking into consideration the public institutions surveyed, the measurement was not performed properly, there was not a standardization of this procedure and many professionals reported the lack of training. There was even a gap between the training and the retraining of nursing staff. Descriptors: central venous pressure, nursing, continuing education, nursing practice guideline, intensive care units.