Abstract

Intensive care nursing is the nursing specialty that emerged to provide highly complex, specialized care to seriously or critically ill patients requiring constant monitoring and basic and advanced life support. Historically, its origins can be traced back to the triage of sick (soldiers) during the Crimean War, which led to a reduction in mortality. Later, the polio epidemic created the need to ventilate these patients, leading to the establishment of specialized units, particularly in Europe and the United States. In Latin America, nursing evolved with the creation of educational programs and the professionalization of the field. Specifically in Honduras, the history of nursing dates back to informal and religious care, followed by the establishment of nursing schools in the mid-20th century. It was formalized with the creation of the Nursing program in 1966 at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH). Since then, the nursing profession has evolved with the introduction of curricula and its expansion to other universities throughout the country. There is no exact, documented record of the date and hospital where the first Intensive Care Unit (ICU) was established in Honduras. It was likely a gradual process, influenced by advances in medicine worldwide. The first ICUs were probably installed in the 1970s and 1980s, as recovery or “shock” rooms in the country’s main hospitals, such as the University Hospital in Tegucigalpa and the Mario Catarino Rivas Hospital in San Pedro Sula. The care of the most critically ill patients fell to nursing professionals who, due to their experience and dedication, acquired advanced skills and knowledge through daily practice and informal or on-the-job training (in-service education), because the formal specialty of intensive care or critical care nursing, as it is known today, did not yet exist. It is worth noting that by 1992,1 the Honduran Medical Journal, in a publication by Rafael Giovanni Perdomo Cruz, already defined the specialty of Intensive Care Medicine and its role, indicating that ICUs were already an operational and recognized reality within the Honduran health system at that time. This article aims to analyze aspects related to the history of intensive care nursing in Honduras. In conclusion, the history of intensive care nursing in Honduras points to an evolution from empirical practices toward a professional and specialized discipline grounded in scientific, technical, and technological knowledge, with an increasing focus on humanized care and continuous quality improvement, thus offering comprehensive care to patients.

Keywords

History, Nursing, History of Nursing, Intensive care