Covid-19 beyond the disease: effects of the pandemic on the neonatal intensive care in the light of Nightingale’s environmental theory

Abstract

The strict safety measures adopted in hospital environments due to the pandemic have also been extended to Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICU). By means of a systematic observation and based on Nightingale’s Environmental Theory, this article sought to unveil the organizational and structural changes in the NICU of a public hospital in the countryside of Bahia. Results indicate an interconnection between physical, psychological, and social environments, which were committed to the communication and relationship between family, newborn, and team, thus presenting a sensitive bias of the restrictive consequences of covid-19. These findings highlight the paradox between ensuring security and preventing informational and bond-facilitator practices that involve the aforementioned triad. From this context emerge new communication strategies leading professionals to reinvent themselves, and to dare in communication by remote resources not used before, emphasizing the use of digital technologies.