Resumo

PICO MERCHAN, María Eugenia  e  TOBON CORREA, Ofelia. Sense of the professional`s role of nursing in the first level of attention in health Manizales (Colombia). Index Enferm [online]. 2005, vol.14, n.51, pp.19-23. ISSN 1699-5988.

This work can be described as an ethnography of the sense that the nurses have of their role as first level healthcare providers in Manizales, Colombia. As well as their experiences in their role as nurses, concerning the value attributed to their profession, the beliefs that other have of their work and occupation. The analysis and the interpretation were done by means of the information obtained through in-depth interviews with sixteen nurses. Definite categories emerged from the information such as: the nurse as a person; nursing cares; the nurse in the health organization; and, the normative, educational and socioeconomic context. After analyzing the categories it was identified that nurses have a conflict between undergraduate formation and job opportunities; social, normative and educational determiners of the role and execution of their occupation; taking care of others and institutional care. The nurses are torn between this conflict and the resignificance of labor experiences to be used in their personal and familiar life, the prestige of their administrative labor, the duty to take care of the patients and the satisfaction that comes from pleading in favor of the users.