In this study, we intend to identify in the evolution of nursing the intensity of patient dependency as it is written down by the nurse and confront it with a ranking instrument. 74 patients, 11 nurses and 04 lecturers were part of the study held from September 22 until October 27, 2000. We noticed slight modifications in the degree of patient dependency from hospital admission to discharge. Furthermore, the majority of the patients that needed help were the intermediate ones (41.9%). However, our reality still requires nursing training and the creation of an appropriate classification instrument, in accordance with the features of our internment units.
nursing; nursing administration research; health care needs assessment
