Validation of a nursing care protocol for patients undergoing palliative care

Objective: To describe the validation process of the content of a nursing care protocol for patients undergoing palliative care and hospitalized in intensive care units. Methods: This was a cross-sectional, descriptive, methodological study, resulting from the judgment by 11 experts involved in teaching and/or care. The operationalization occurred through the consistency among the answers of the experts obtained by the Content Validity Index in a round. Results: Fifteen items were assessed: nine corresponding to the nursing history and six related to nursing interventions, presenting a content validity index of 0.9 to 1.0. Of the 165 answers, 67.27% were considered appropriate, 30.91% were appropriate with alterations, and only 1.82% were deemed inappropriate. Such results confirm the validity of content according to the assessment by the experts. Conclusion: The nursing care protocol for patients undergoing palliative care, hospitalized in intensive care units, proved to be valid and applicable in the clinical practice.