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Knowledge and practices that constitute nurses in Primary Care
José Ricardo Guimarães Dos Santos Junior1, Stefanie Griebeler Oliveira2, Teila Ceolin2
1Prefeitura de Alvorada. Alvorada, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Revista Brasileira De Enfermagem
|August 6, 2026
Summary
Primary care nurses in Brazil act as biopolitical agents, influenced by public policies on women and children. Overload stems from performance targets and administrative tasks, suggesting responsibility decentralization could help.
Area of Science:
- Nursing
- Public Health
- Sociology of Health
Background:
- Primary care nursing is central to Brazil's public health system.
- Understanding nurses' knowledge and practices is crucial for effective healthcare delivery.
- Foucauldian concepts offer a lens to analyze power dynamics in healthcare.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze the knowledge and practices of primary care nurses in southern Brazil.
- To explore the influence of public policies on nursing practices.
- To examine the role of nurses as biopolitical agents.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative study with 31 nurses from Basic Health Units (January-June 2022).
- Foucauldian-inspired analysis using knowledge, power, discourse, and subjectivation.
- Data managed with ATLAS.ti® and subjected to content analysis and problematization.
Main Results:
- Nurses' knowledge and practices are shaped by public policies, particularly concerning women's and children's health.
- Nurses integrate programmatic actions within a network-oriented approach.
- Nurses function as biopolitical agents, managing population health within state frameworks.
Conclusions:
- Nurses are biopolitical agents influencing public health management.
- Work overload is linked to health indicators, multifunctionality, and computerization.
- Decentralizing tasks among healthcare teams may alleviate nurse overload.
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