OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to analyze the relationships among nursing workload, illness severity, and the survival and the length of stay of surgical patients in ICUs. METHODS: Data from 143 inpatients from three ICUs of a teaching hospital in São Paulo city were collected from September 2002 to February 2003. RESULTS: The results showed that patients who did not survive during the length of stay in the ICUs had higher scores on illness severity (APACHE II) and nursing workload (TISS-28) than those individuals who survived (p = 0.001). Patients who had longer length of stay in ICUs also had higher scores on nursing workload (TISS-28), which in turn required more hours of nursing care (p = 0.005). And, patients who had a higher score on illness severity (APACHE II) also required more hours of nursing care (p = 0.05). CONCLUSION: nursing workload was related to illness severity and to the survival and length of stay in ICUs.
Workload; Residence Time; Nursing care; Intensive care; APACHE
