Rural nursing formation possibilities: Integrative review

Abstract

Objective: To understand the formation process in international rural nursing and the repercussions on formation and practice in Brazil. Methods: Integrative review composed of six stages. Data were collected in March 2018 in PubMed and Direct Science with the descriptor ‘Rural nursing’ and the keyword ‘formation’ by combining the Boolean operators ‘AND’ and ‘OR’. Original articles from the previous ten years in in Portuguese, Spanish and English that met the inclusion criteria were eligible. Qualitative analysis was performed with the construction of subsets and topics. Results: Inclusion of 13 articles addressing: nursing undergraduate course, distance learning undergraduate courses; curricular internships in rural health services and simulated activity with cases of rural families. Post-graduation: postgraduate internship in rural health unit, advanced nursing practice (ANP) course with emphasis on the rural setting, and the need for continuing education activity in rural nursing. Conclusion: The analysis of studies demonstrated that strategies of qualification of rural health professionals can be applied in different ways, with use of several methodologies and associated technologies according to professionals’ needs and availability. A range of possibilities can be discussed and developed by nursing for the qualification and consolidation of rural nursing practice in Brazil.