The public health nurse’s interventions and responsibilities in Portugal: A scoping review

Abstract

Objective: to review studies that refer to interventions and responsibilities of public health nurses, since the creation of the Portuguese National Health Service (NHS) in 1979, to the present day. Method: scoping review, following the PCC-participants, concept and context version of The Joanna Briggs Institute. We consulted databases such as the Biblioteca do Conhecimento Online, Scientific Electronic Library Online, EBSCOhost Online Research Databases. The publication period was from 1979 to 2018. Results: we selected four published articles and six master's dissertations, between 2010 and 2016. The subjects have to do with nurses' activities and actions, autonomy and competences, normative foundations, perceptions of nursing teams, health, transmission and collection of health information. Conclusion: the results, even if scarce, provided clues for a reflection on the mode, type of intervention processes of these nurses, who, according to some of them, understand their competences more than they concretize them.