[Evaluation of the welcoming strategies in the Intensive Care Unit].

This qualitative study was performed at the adult Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of a public hospital in Southern Brazil with the objective to evaluate the implemented welcoming strategies. Participants included 13 patients and 23 relatives. Data collection was performed from July to October 2008, utilizing semi-structured interviews.

[Therapeutic pathway of hospital emergency services users].

This is an exploratory study conducted in a general hospital in the greater Florianopolis in Santa Catarina State, Brazil using a qualitative/quantitative approach. The main objective is to describe the therapeutic route of patients seeking health assistance in an emergency hospital and their justifications for this choice, discussing it primarily from a socio-political and cultural point of view, without the intention to adhere to the theoretical philosophical aspects of these theories. The sample was composed of 35 subjects.

[Invasive hemodynamic monitoring at bedside: nursing evaluation and nursing care protocol].

This research-action type study aimed to establish clinical evaluation parameters essential to the patient subject to hemodynamic monitoring by Pulmonary Artery Catheter (PAC) and to develop a Nursing Care Protocol to critical care patients using catheter with the nurses of an ICU in Santa Catarina State. The population consisted of a non-probabilistic intentional sample of five nurses, and the data were collected through group meetings and questionnaire. The study is presented with descriptive statistics and qualitative analyses of the subjective questions.