Helga Martins
Postdoctoral Alumni, of the Program of Integral Human Development, CADOS.
Faculty of Health Sciences and Nursing, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Health, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Portugal.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5804-7934
E-mail: hemartins@ucp.pt
Filipa Veludo
Faculty of Health Sciences and Nursing, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Health, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Portugal.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8749-0193
E-mail: fveludo@ucp.pt
Missed Nursing Care in the Emergency Room: A Hard Reality Demanding an Integral Approach
The emergency room is a dynamic and demanding environment characterized by the constant influx of patients presenting with a wide variety of health conditions. Many of these situations are life-threatening, while others confront patients and their families with profound existential concerns related to the end of life.
In such contexts, life-saving therapeutic interventions are fundamental and understandably prioritized in order to manage complex and critical health conditions. However, evidence suggests that in emergency settings, nursing care is often primarily focused on meeting patients’ physical needs. While this focus is essential, it is insufficient on its own.
There is a pressing need to shift this mindset and promote an integral approach to care, one that addresses not only physical demands but also the psychological and spiritual dimensions of patients and their families. These dimensions are therapeutic components of the health–illness process, particularly in moments of crisis and vulnerability.
Only through the adoption of an integral, holistic approach can high-quality nursing care be truly delivered, ensuring that all human responses to illness and health are recognized and addressed. Missed nursing care in the emergency room remains a harsh reality that must be confronted in order to advance toward a genuinely integral model of care.
Therefore, I invite all interested readers to consult the article in full detail: Link: Unveiling Missed Nursing Care. A Commentary on “A New Perspective on Missed Nursing Care in the Emergency Department: A Descriptive Cross-Sectional Study,” Amritzer et al (JEN 2024) – Journal of Emergency Nursing
OpenEdition sugere que esta publicação seja citada da seguinte forma:
helgamartins (26 de Dezembro de 2025). Missed Nursing Care in the Emergency Room: A Hard Reality Demanding an Integral Approach. Desenvolvimento Humano Integral. Recuperado em 6 de Fevereiro de 2026 de https://doi.org/10.58079/15f2q
Um comentário a “Missed Nursing Care in the Emergency Room: A Hard Reality Demanding an Integral Approach”
The reflection presented is an important invitation to rethink practices, reorganize priorities, and strengthen a truly holistic culture of care in the emergency department. Addressing the phenomenon of missed nursing care is not only a matter of efficiency, but also of humanity.