Systematization of nursing care: is there agreement on the concept?

Abstract

Nursing practice is characterized by being, predominantly, not systematic and, when we start reflecting on Systematization of Nursing Care, we are faced with a series of questions about, including its significance for the components of the nursing staff. In the national literature of the area, there is a profusion of terms related to the subject, contributing to the difficult on its understanding. In the articles published in national journals of the area, in the last ten years, we identify, along with Systematization of Nursing Care, terms such as Nursing Consult, Methodology of Nursing Assistance, Methodology of Nursing Care, Planning of Nursing Care, Process of Nursing Assistance, Process of Nursing Assistance, Process of Nursing Attention, Process of Care in Nursing, Nursing Process and Process Nursing Care, among others, utilized with semantic traits sometimes different, sometimes similar or related.

Currently, Systematization of Nursing Care, Methodology of Nursing Care and Nursing Process, the three most frequently cited in the literature, are beginning to be analyzed and understood as distinct terms, despite the undeniable inter-relationship in their application in professional practice. Let us take as a starting point for the understanding of the possible existence of distinct semantic traits between these terms, the following statement: "... the Nursing Process requires a conscious systematization of the work, using an appropriate methodology for the production of the care that is needed"⁽¹⁾. (author’s highlight)

On the denotative or referential sense, systematize means to make something systematic, ie orderly, methodical; consistent with certain line of thought and / or action. The expression Systematization of Nursing Care can be understood as the organization of the conditions necessary for the completion of the Nursing Process as regards to the method, staff and instruments⁽¹⁾. On the other hand, the term process, also in denotative or referential sense, indicates a sequence of states of a phenomenon in specific moments of time. This sequence of states demands the occurrence of an action or a set of actions by means of a making method, regulated by a particular mode of thinking, ie a conception of the phenomenon, its origin and its potential to become or to be processed. Therefore, it is possible to define the Nursing Process as a methodological tool that enables to identify, understand, describe, explain and / or predict the needs of an individual, family or human community in a given time of the health and disease process, requiring the Nursing professional care⁽²⁾.

While Systematization of Nursing Care organizes the conditions necessary for its implementation, the Nursing Process, carried out systematically and deliberately, defines the needs, directs the caring act and documents the results of the action / intervention implemented, not only evidencing Nursing's participation in the attention of the population health, but also contributing to the visibility and professional recognition.

Obviously, these considerations do not end here. We need to deepen them in all areas of our practice (education, care, research, management of care) in order to promote more harmonic terminological uses. Are there, among the various terms discussed here, associative relationships possible to be identified and described? Are they pseudo-synonyms, or there have been inaccurate descriptions of these terms? What traits or characteristics are common to these terms and what are the semantic features that distinguish them? Those are issues that are demanding theoretical efforts in order to enlarge our understanding about the phenomenon Systematization of Nursing Care, in order to generate new knowledge and technological innovations in professional practice.