Theoretical Article
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Pensar Enfermagem / v.30 n.01 / Jan-Dec 2026 / DOI: 10.71861/pensarenf.v30i1.445
Introduction
Nursing care delivered in intensive care units (ICUs) is among the most complex and demanding areas of
professional practice, requiring specialized technical, scientific, and human competencies. ICUs care for
critically ill patients who require continuous care, rigorous clinical assessment, and rapid interventions, often in
response to sudden changes in clinical status.1
In this setting, nurses play a central role, leading the Nursing Process and working in coordination with the
interprofessional team to promote safety, the quality of care, and comprehensive care.2
Among the conditions managed in ICUs, traumatic brain injury (TBI) is highly prevalent in Brazil, with a mean
incidence of 65 cases per 100,000 population between 2008 and 2019.3 One of the most common TBI-related
complications is traumatic acute subdural hematoma (ASDH), characterized by blood accumulation in the space
between the dura mater and the arachnoid membrane. It is a severe neurologic condition that can progress
rapidly, leading to decreased level of consciousness, progressive neurological deterioration, coma, and, not
uncommonly, death.4-5
Mortality rates associated with ASDH range from 50% to 90% and are influenced by factors such as age,
pupillary abnormalities, Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, and lesion extent and location.6 For these reasons,
ASDH is a public health problem.
In light of this, ASDH management is a high-priority clinical challenge for ICU nursing teams, which
underscores the need for integrated, technology-enabled strategies for care delivery. In this context, care models
that integrate information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as telenursing, have gained
prominence as a way to strengthen the Nursing Process.
Within the broader umbrella of telehealth, telenursing uses digital technologies to provide remote care,
consultation, education, supervision, and health monitoring.7
In this scenario, telenursing has become an innovative, strategic tool that expands nurses’ scope of practice
without altering its core. By enabling remote follow-up, case discussion, and shared care planning, this approach
can support timely clinical decision-making, strengthen the quality of care, and reinforce care delivery within
health networks, especially in situations requiring rapid response and specialized support, such as ASDH.8
Accordingly, undergraduate nursing programs should integrate educational experiences into their curricula that
expose students to ICTs applied to clinical practice. This integration helps students develop clinical reasoning,
evidence-informed decision-making, effective communication, and care management skills in settings that
demand high-acuity interventions.9
In this regard, ICU practicums that incorporate telenursing are an essential teaching strategy: they immerse
students in both the dynamics of intensive care and the use of health technologies, supporting their technical,
ethical, and critical development.
Thus, this study aims to report nursing students’ clinical practicum experience in an ICU that uses telenursing
as a clinical support strategy in the care of a patient with traumatic acute subdural hematoma.
Methods
This qualitative, descriptive experience report draws on activities conducted during ICU clinical practicum
sessions, which were part of the practical component of a required course in the undergraduate Nursing
program at a federal public university located in an inland city in Paraíba State, Northeast Brazil. The experience
took place in March 2025 at a high-acuity public hospital in the same city as the university, which serves as a
referral center for urgent and emergency care.
The experience was carried out as part of an interstate collaboration to evaluate and strengthen care processes
between two hospitals in different regions of Brazil. In this setting, a telenursing service was implemented to
support remote clinical discussion through case presentation via a bedside videoconference. This approach
enabled a shared assessment of the patient’s health status and joint planning of nursing interventions aimed at
improving the quality of care provided to a patient diagnosed with traumatic acute subdural hematoma.
The data underpinning this report were generated through students’ participation in the telenursing session.
Under the supervision of the ICU nurse and the faculty supervisor, students presented the patient’s clinical
status to the nursing team at the partner institution. During this session, the team discussed the patient’s clinical
progression, neurological monitoring, and complication-prevention strategies, and proposed adjustments to the
planned nursing interventions.
In parallel, students participated actively in the patient’s care, including conducting a systematic physical
examination, monitoring clinical parameters, performing continuous neurological assessment, and
implementing nursing interventions grounded in the Nursing Process. All activities were carried out under the