The Idealized Brazilian Health System versus the real one: contributions from the nursing field

to identify the perceptions of professionals working in a facility connected with the Brazilian Unified Health System - SUS in regard to what they know, think and talk about public health policy.

this exploratory-descriptive study with a qualitative nature was conducted with 28 professionals working in a facility connected with the SUS. Data were collected through interviews with guiding questions and analyzed through the thematic content analysis technique.

coded and interpreted data resulted in three thematic axes: The SUS - perfect web that does not work in practice; The recurrent habit of complaining about the SUS; The need to rethink the way of thinking about, acting in and managing the SUS.

the professionals working for the SUS are aware of the principles and guidelines that govern the Brazilian health system, however, they reproduce a dichotomous and linear model of conception and practice strongly linked to the thinking of society in general.