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Objective: to analyze the accuracy of the defining characteristics of the Impaired gas exchange nursing diagnosis in children with acute respiratory infection., Method: open prospective cohort study conducted with 136 children monitored for a consecutive period of at least six days and not more than ten days. An instrument based on the defining characteristics of the Impaired gas exchange diagnosis and on literature addressing pulmonary assessment was used to collect data. The accuracy means of all the defining characteristics under study were computed., Results: the Impaired gas exchange diagnosis was present in 42.6% of the children in the first assessment. Hypoxemia was the characteristic that presented the best measures of accuracy. Abnormal breathing presented high sensitivity, while restlessness, cyanosis, and abnormal skin color showed high specificity. All the characteristics presented negative predictive values of 70% and cyanosis stood out by its high positive predictive value., Conclusion: hypoxemia was the defining characteristic that presented the best predictive ability to determine Impaired gas exchange. Studies of this nature enable nurses to minimize variability in clinical situations presented by the patient and to identify more precisely the nursing diagnosis that represents the patient's true clinical condition.

Objective: to characterize nutritional status and variables that predict nutritional changes in children with congenital heart disease., Method: a cross-sectional study undertaken in two health institutions between January and June 2009, using a questionnaire with questions about nutrition, applied to 132 children under two years of age who had congenital heart disease. Children who had additional serious illnesses were excluded., Result: the predominant percentile values and Z scores were concentrated within the range of normal levels. The Z scores, however, presented negative variations with a deviation to the left. In the analysis of predictive factors, the occurrence of immediate and acute malnutrition was related to a decrease in skinfold thickness (decrease in subscapular skinfold thickness, while immediate malnutrition was related to a high Apgar score. Chronic malnutrition was related to female children with higher ages., Conclusion: it is evidenced that it is necessary to carry out nutritional strategies which improve prognosis, so as to widen the nursing care directed at these children.