Obstetric/neonatal care: Expansion of nurses’ clinical practice in Primary Care

Abstract

Objective: To understand the meaning of the expansion of nurses’ clinical practice in obstetric and neonatal care in the primary care context. Methods: Qualitative study in which were adopted the theoretical-philosophical reference of Edgar Morin’s Complex Thought and the methodological framework of the Grounded Theory. The stages of collection, analysis and construction of the theory occurred in alternating sequences between September 2016 and September 2017. The theoretical saturation of data was reached after including 11 individual interviews with primary care nurses and four participant observations. Data were organized using the NVIVO10® software and analyzed in three steps: open, axial and integration coding. Results: The central phenomenon “Provoking changes in the performance of primary care nurses” and three categories emerged: Understanding the meanings of nursing care management in primary care; Dealing with the antagonistic and regulating movement that influences quality; and Improving quality to promote the resolution of primary care. Conclusion: The meanings of the leadership movement in favor of the expansion of nurses’ clinical practice in primary care are related to the resistant posture of some professionals, the inconstancy of human and material resources, but above all, the search for the care essence.