Nurses' conceptions regarding to the use of psychiatric emergency protocols in mobile pre-hospital care

Abstract

Objective: to ascertain nurses’ conceptions regarding the use of psychiatric emergency protocols in mobile pre-hospital care. Methods: in this qualitative, descriptive exploratory study of nurses in a Mobile Emergency Care Service, data were collected through semi-structured interviews and submitted to content analysis. Results: two categories were listed: Psychiatric emergency care protocols and their use in the pre-hospital care service; and Factors that influence emergency care and psychiatric emergency. The protocols are at odds with the tenets of psychiatric reform and frame its applicability as a factor that interferes with management of persons in crisis, thus serving to perpetuate the ideological social action of physical restraint. Final considerations: the study showed the context of nurses’ practice in psychiatric emergencies and showed that nurses of the Mobile Emergency Care Service are not properly equipped to work in psychiatric emergencies.