Abstract
The aim of the present study was to discuss the way visibility constitutes a power device in the everyday practice of the Mobile Emergency Care Service in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. A qualitative case study was developed and data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 31 workers of the service (five physicians, 11 nurses, seven nursing assistants and eight ambulance drivers) and submitted to discourse analysis. The analysis of power relations in the service allowed to verify that there is not an only one source from which the power emanates in this organizational structure. Power is exercised through many techniques and their sources are scattered, diffuse, interchangeable and even confusing. Although there is a hierarchical structure formally established, a parallel network to this structure is formed. It was also observed that the visibility generated by radio communication provides constant supervision, which generates tension within the team.
Highlights
A display window is a glassed cabinet where objects for sale are exhibited, in such a way that it will be easier for potential customers to observe them
Our intention here is to compare the work performed at the Mobile Emergency Care Service (SAMU, as per its acronym in Portuguese) neither with a display window in business terms, an aspect that would enable to create possibilities for commercial transactions, nor with an instrument that deliberately aims to delude and produce dreams
The script addressed the following questions: What caused you to choose working at the SAMU? What is your perception on the relationships among the professionals of the SAMU teams? How about the relationships between the SAMU teams and the professionals from other healthcare network units? Taking into account SAMU’s management profile and hierarchical structure, how do you perceive the service’s organizational structure? In the data analysis process, the subjects were identified by the initial letters of their professional group and consecutively numbered in accordance with each group
Summary
A display window is a glassed cabinet where objects for sale are exhibited, in such a way that it will be easier for potential customers to observe them. Back in the middle ages, the display window already counted on internal lighting for the exhibition of products aimed to draw the attention, or to delude and generate the vision of a dream.[1] Our intention here is to compare the work performed at the Mobile Emergency Care Service (SAMU, as per its acronym in Portuguese) neither with a display window in business terms, an aspect that would enable to create possibilities for commercial transactions, nor with an instrument that deliberately aims to delude and produce dreams. Given its own work profile, SAMU may be considered as a privileged locus of visibility. This is quite a relevant fact in our days in view of the changes experienced by society in its social relationships and productive processes, as there has been enhanced concerns toward the quality of the services offered to the population,[2] as well as toward people’s satisfaction with the offer
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