Princípios do Sistema Único de Saúde: concepção dos enfermeiros da estratégia de saúde da família, de uma cidade do Estado de Minas Gerais

Abstract

BERNARDES, E. H. The Unified Health System Principles: nurses’ conceptions about working at the Family Health Program of a city in the Minas Gerais State. 2005. 191 f. Dissertacao (Mestrado) – Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirao Preto, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Ribeirao Preto, 2005. The purpose of this study is to verify the conception of eight nurses who work in a Family Health team of a city in the Minas Gerais State. The author aimed at identifying and analyzing the conceptions of nurses that are members of the Family Health team about the following principles: universality, equity and integrality established by the Unified Health System as well as identifying the relationships established by nurses between these principles and the Family Health Strategy, using the Primary Health Care and the Unified Health System frameworks. Regarding the methodology, the author utilized a qualitative approach and semi-structured interviews. The thematic analysis of the data enabled the author to identify five thematic units: formation, the conceptions of universality, equity and integrality and the relationship between these principles and the Family Health Strategy. Results showed universality as a citizen’s right to health in any care level, without discrimination and, on the other hand, the authorities’ duty to assure the access to this right. Equity was pointed as a synonymous of fairness, in which people must have their care provided, being treated in the same way as others. Integrality, as a polisemy, was analyzed under three perspectives: the man, the practices and the organization of health services. The conception of man appeared as a guideline to move further or to approximate a fragmented conception, as well as the way they believe or support the organization of health care based on human, material and physical resources. Thus, the author identified that specific conceptions on the three investigated principles are not clearly understood and are far away from their original mean. These findings enable a reflection about ways to rescue, deepen and review projects and current pedagogic practices used in the process of professional formation for the health sector, as they are occurring in a traditional way that is not articulated with the political project, with few possibilities to form social subjects with critical capacity to act with great potential in social spaces and capable to transform the practices organization and institutional services, consolidating universal, fair and integral policies and the Unified Health System. Descriptors: Family Health, Primary Health Care, Equity, Nursing, Integral Health Care, Universality, Concept Formation