[Analysis of the work process in health research laboratories: a proposal for investigation]

This article presents a proposal for analyzing the work process involved in building technoscientific knowledge in the health field, focusing on the work developed by research laboratory technicians in the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. Beginning with an in-depth description of the technicians' laboratory activities, we discuss the relationship between the various stages of work and the different actors, the technicians' value as actors in the process of building knowledge, and various actors' perceptions of how essential this work is. We attempt to outline the context in which the work processes in health sciences laboratories were incorporated into an analysis of the work process in health. By establishing a dialogue with the sociology of science, we present our proposal as an attempt to introduce new social sciences approaches for analyzing the work process, specifically as applicable to an analysis of work in the health field.