Introduction:

Medical education fulfills the social task of achieving competent professional performance. The development of neonatal intensive care units and its international trends demand new strategies for nursing professional upgrading in pursuit of quality care.

Objective:

To design an upgrading strategy for the development of specific professional skills in nursing care for the critical newborn.

Methods:

We used theoretical methods: systematization, analysis-synthesis, systemic functional structure, modeling. A socialization workshop was held with the participation of experts from the specialty.

Results:

The strategy design responds to the development of specific professional competences in nursing care for the critical newborn and is based on philosophical, epistemological, psychological and social referents. Besides, it guarantees the instructive impact for postgraduate education, and leads to the development of specific values and skills to use competences in practice. Assessment through the socialization workshop proved the relevance, feasibility and possibilities for its development in neonatal intensive care units.

Conclusions:

The foundations of the upgrading strategy for the development of specific professional competences in nursing care for the critical newborn allows establishing essential relationships that contribute to theory in this area of knowledge. The structure of the proposed strategy is in correspondence with the assumed foundations and contributes to the improvement of professional nursing performance in neonatal intensive care units.

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