[Understanding care dimensions in an emergency hospital unit]

The objective of this qualitative study was to comprehend the meaning of the nursing care relationships in an emergency unit from the perception of the human who receives the care and to provide theoretical subsidies in order to think about the care relationships established in daily nursing work. Nineteen subjects were interviewed in an emergency hospital unit in Santa Catarina, Brazil. The data was submitted to content analysis and interpreted according to complex thought. The care dimensions, presented in six categories, mobilize and articulate the multiple human competencies and techniques of/by caring beings in the comprehension of the nursing care process, from the perspective of those who receive care, including rethinking nursing practice itself and the multiple conditions of the environment as a space for care.