Brazilian nurses' practices in monitoring child health at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: COVID-19 has affected the routine of health services, and there are few studies that address the practices of nurses in monitoring child health during the pandemic period.

Objective: To describe the practices of Brazilian nurses in monitoring child health at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Cross-sectional study carried out with 115 Brazilian nurses from Primary Health Care. The questionnaire sent by email and WhatsApp, included questions about activities for monitoring child health, aspects addressed in nursing care and the implementation of innovative strategies. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis through Stata 15.1 software.

Results: The majority of participants belonged to the family health strategy (75.65%) and were from the southeastern region of Brazil (40.87%). Child health monitoring activities were suspended or reduced in most Brazilian regions. Promotion of physical activity, guidance on playing, evaluation of food consumption and guidance on sleep quality were the least addressed aspects. Regarding the use of innovative strategies, phone calls and messages through WhatsApp were the most used.

Conclusions: At the beginning of the pandemic, the nurses adapted their practices to innovative strategies to keep monitoring the child population, however, important health promotion actions for this pandemic period were little addressed.