A descriptive cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach, which aimed to categorize the patients treated in the admission unit at a tertiary hospital, regarding the care complexity and the degree of dependence. The instrument used covers twelve areas of care, and classifies patients into the following categories: intensive care, semi-intensive, high dependency, intermediate and minimum. It was observed that 68% were male and 32% female, mid age of 51.97 years old, 34.9% of patients were confined to bed and 32.8% had limitation of movement, 44, 8% showed the presence of continuous flow on the skin involving subcutaneous tissue and muscle, 29.9% required high dependency care. The study showed a lack of ICU (Intensive Care Unit) beds, the necessity for restructuring the health network. Patients requiring intensive care are admitted at non-specialized units, causing extra work for the health team and causing a low quality care.
Nursing Care; Intensive Care; Nursing Assessment; Inpatients; Classification
