Empiric indicators for structuring a data-collecting tool in surgical units

Abstract

The present methodological research has as its main purpose the development of the initial stage in the implementation of a data-collecting tool to be used by a hospital surgical staff. This tool aims at listing the empiric indicators found in the literature, beginning with the basic human needs as stated by Horta, and identifying the frequency of such indicators in the case of surgical inpatients. To list the empiric indicators, Horta’s Theory of Basic Human Needs was used as theoretical reference. By examining the literature it was possible to define these needs and to identify empiric indicators for each one of them. This resulted in an instrument containing 367 empiric indicators that were used with 61 inpatients in the University Hospital (HULW) surgical clinics. Eighty-four empiric indicators were obtained, and these made up the first version of our data-collecting tool for surgical adult inpatients. An instrument based on such results is expected to contribute towards both the systematization of nursing assistance in the hospital surgical clinics and the standardization of data collecting at the moment patients are admitted, considering at the same time the needs of these patients.