[Emotional involvement in the nursing team: reality or myth?]

The present study aims to analyze what the members of the nursing team think about their emotional involvement with the patients during their relationship. Data were collected through the application of an instrument to members of the nursing team (registered nurse, nursing aides and attendants). The analysis was done, at first, separately by functional categories and after that, as a whole. We concluded that, there is in nursing a policy of no involvement with the patients and that the registered nurse is the one that most verbalizes it. One of the negative factors of the involvement with the patient is the psychological suffering of the nursing team members. This leads us to identify the no involvement behavior as a collective defence mechanism against suffering.