The complexity of care for the thermal control of the premature infant

Objective: to understand the perception of nurses about the complexity of care for thermal control of the premature infant. Methods: qualitative study conducted with 13 nurses from a public maternity hospital, through virtual interviews, with semi-structured script, submitted to Content Analysis and in-terpreted by the theoretical support of the complex adaptive care system model. Results: the factors present in nurses' care in thermal control of premature infants are related to the com-plexity permeated by environmental factors such as the tempe-rature of the unit and distribution of air conditioning currents; institutional factors such as the availability and correct use of technologies, and those related to the professional, such as per-formance, training, and qualification. Conclusion: adjusting the temperature of the unit; better distribution of the air conditio-ning currents; availability of technologies; a policy of continued education in the service; training in handling the equipment; supervision and requirement for preventive and corrective maintenance of the devices can influence the reduction of ther-mal instability events in premature infants. Contributions to practice: stimulating professional qualification, planning of in-tersectoral actions for technological structuring and preventive maintenance of the units, systematization of assistance to pre-mature infants in thermal control minimizing risk of neonatal morbimortality due to thermal instability.