Nursing Activities Score: nursing work load in a burns Intensive Care Unit

OBJECTIVE: to evaluate the nursing work load in a Burns Intensive Care Unit according to the Nursing Activities Score. METHOD: an exploratory, descriptive cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach. The Nursing Activities Score was used for data collection between October 2011 and May 2012, totalling 1,221 measurements, obtained from 50 patients' hospital records. Data for qualitative variables was described in tables; for the quantitative variables, calculations using statistical measurements were used. RESULTS: the mean score for the Nursing Activities Score was 70.4% and the median was 70.3%, corresponding to the percentage of the time spent on direct care to the patient in 24 hours. CONCLUSION: the Nursing Activities Score provided information which involves the process of caring for patients hospitalized in a Burns Intensive Care Unit, and indicated that there is a high work load for the nursing team of the sector studied.