Objective

To describe the occurrence of skin lesions in newborns admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit of a public hospital in Brasilia, Federal District, Brazil.

Method

Quantitative, descriptive and prospective study, which was conducted between September and December 2014. The target group consisted of 104 newborns. The descriptive analysis included absolute and relative frequencies, median and standard deviation.

Results

42 newborns developed skin lesions, in 77 resulting injuries. The most incident was diaper rash (15.4%), erythema (13.5%) and infiltration (12.5%), Followed by ecchymosis (4.8%) and desquamation (3.8%).

Conclusion

It is essential to create protocols and/or to use instruments that aim to maintain the integrity of the newborn's skin, which can be useful for identifying any alteration, preventing or minimizing its impact and consequences.

        · abstract in Spanish | Portuguese     · text in English | Spanish | Portuguese     · English ( pdf ) | Spanish ( pdf ) | Portuguese ( pdf )