The intangible in the production of care: The exercise of practical intelligence in an oncology ward

Abstract

This article brings the results of a research of which main goal was to investigate the use of practical intelligence by an oncology nurse team in an oncological ward, in a hospital in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We assume that, in spite of the suffering inherent to health care work, it can have a creative and potent dimension in the exercise of care, even in the presence of the challenges faced by the precarious working conditions, the growing demand of patients and the demands of productivity. Participant observation, in-depth interviews and group interviews were carried out with a selected nursing staff. We observed two main forms of practical intelligence manifestations. The first is the exercise of speaking and listening. The second, as an exercise in the production of comfort. Such forms of practical intelligence interpenetrate and cannot be captured by numbers, indicators, and methods of performance evaluation. They are invisible to instruments that do not go through the word of the workers. We conclude that it is necessary to create collective spaces in health organizations where managers and workers can express and dialogue on such issues, socially validating this know-how and those workers’experiences.