Nursing care for patients with chronic kidney disease in a public reference hospital in Brazil

Chronic Kidney disease is a condition that has taken great proportions mainly among the adult population, bringing direct implications in the life of the bearer of this condition. Thus, nursing care should be aimed at improving the individual's quality of life and promoting health. This study aimed to identify the interventions developed by nurses during the care of patients with Chronic Kidney Disease, as well as to describe the nursing care for this patient and to raise the main difficulties of nurses regarding this care.This is a descriptive and exploratory field study of qualitative nature, developed at the nephrology unit of the Getúlio Vargas Hospital in Teresina-Piaui, Brazil. Nursing interventions range from direct care actions such as vital signs monitoring, patient weighing, water intake monitoring, health education practices, patient safety, to managerial actions such as staff and material sizing. The difficulties are mainly concentrated in the lack of material and human resources, but the acceptance of treatment by patients are also relevant. From this, it is concluded that nursing care goes through difficulties that directly interfere with the quality of care, besides presenting itself as a complex process that needs knowledge and techniques that contribute to the improvement of patients.