Puericulture: conceptions and practice of nurses in the Family Health Program

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to understand the conceptions and the puericulture practice from the perspective of nurses that work in the Family Health Program. This is a descriptive study which employed qualitative analysis, developed with the nurses belonging to this program and students on the graduate course in nursing leading to the degree of specialist. The data collected, using semi-structured interviews carried out in the very place where the course was run, were submitted to analysis and organized in categories that represent the concepts and the ways that the nursing professional develops this practice, the possibilities and limitations of attending children in puericulture. Nurses carry out this practice in a fragmentized and sporadic way, restricting it mainly to the technical measurement of child weight and height and to immunization; they do not dedicate themselves to puericulture in order to discuss and to learn, as there is difficulty in carrying this activity into effect or in looking for opportunities that support actions concerning the attendance to children.