[Nursing intervention in a child diagnosed with ineffective airway clearance: a case report].

The nursing diagnosis of inefficient airway clearance is prevalent in children. The present report describes the airway management intervention carried out over 5 consecutive days in a child admitted to a pediatric unit, using an instrument based on the indicators of respiratory rate, respiratory ease, respiratory rhythm, and adventitious breath sounds, included in the nursing outcome of "respiratory status: airway patency" of the Nursing Outcomes Classification. Monitoring was started after informed consent was obtained. The anonymity and confidentiality of the data were guaranteed. The monitoring started with a baseline evaluation of the child, followed by implementation of each activity in a pre-established order. On the following days, the nursing interventions implemented were evaluated once a day in the morning by the researcher. After implementing the selected activities, an improvement of 75% in health status was observed, generating an ascendant tendency line. The difference in means per follow-up day showed variations of 0.25 and 0.5. The final health status mean, i.e. the mean difference between the value of the last follow-up day and the initial status, showed a variation of 0.25. In conclusion, the intervention was satisfactory and hastened recovery, reduced length of hospital stay and the associated economic costs, and was painless and easy to perform.