Descripción de un caso: intervención de enfermería en un niño diagnosticado de limpieza ineficaz de las vías aéreas

The nursing diagnosis of inefficient airway clearance is prevalent in children. The present report describes the airway management intervention carried out over 5 consecutive days in a child admitted to a pediatric unit, using an instrument based on the indicators of respiratory rate, respiratory ease, respiratory rhythm, and adventitious breath sounds, included in the nursing outcome of “respiratory status: airway patency” of the Nursing Outcomes Classification. Monitoring was started after informed consent was obtained. The anonymity and confidentiality of the data were guaranteed. The monitoring started with a baseline evaluation of the child, followed by implementation of each activity in a pre-established order. On the following days, the nursing interventions implemented were evaluated once a day in the morning by the researcher. After implementing the selected activities, an improvement of 75% in health status was observed, generating an ascendant tendency line. The difference in means per follow-up day showed variations of 0.25 and 0.5. The final health status mean, i.e. the mean difference between the value of the last follow-up day and the initial status, showed a variation of 0.25. In conclusion, the intervention was satisfactory and hastened recovery, reduced length of hospital stay and the associated economic costs, and was painless and easy to perform.