Nursing in the Unified Health System (SUS): Retinking the Principles and Concepts Underlying Health Care in Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Gomes, Antonio Marcos Tosoli
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Outros Autores: Oliveira, Denize Cristina de, Sá, Celso Pereira de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Psicologia (Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie. Online)
• Texto Completo: http://editorarevistas.mackenzie.br/index.php/ptp/article/view/700
• topic: nursing; health systems; qualitative research; representations; social memory; enfermería; sistema de salud; investigación cualitativa; representaciones; memoria social; enfermagem; sistema de saúde; pesquisa qualitativa; representações; memória social

This study examines the make-up and state-of-the-art of the Unified Health System on the basis of representations among nurses at health institutions in Rio de Janeiro, with a view to identifying and characterizing health policies as actually implemented and the various practices employed in the municipality. The theory of representations and social memory was applied to 20 nurses at 5 institutions. Data collected in interviews were analyzed using ALCESTE 4.7 software. The results were organized into two thematic blocks: how the system is organized and constituted in representations, in terms of the classes “human resource policy” and “the process of anchoring the SUS”. The system is organized to meet demand, comprising the classes “care in the context of the SUS” and “hierarchization of health system actions”. It concludes that nurses are of the utmost importance in implementing the SUS and that the theoretical frame of reference used is appropriate.