Nurse leadership practices in primary health care: A grounded theory

Abstract

This is a qualitative study and its aim was to understand the meaning of nurse leadership exercised in the services of Primary Health Care in a municipality located in Southern Region of Brazil. Grounded Theory was used as methodological framework. Data collection was carried out with semi-structured interviews applied to 30 nurses who worked in Primary Health Care and nursing professors, divided into four groups, between 2011 and 2012. After the analysis process, nine categories emerged and sustained the phenomenon ‘Revealing the nursing leadership practices in the complex context of Primary Health Care’. Leadership was understood as a resource in the process of caring/managing people and developing a team of leaders, intending the organization and qualification of health work. It is important to rescue the clinical work of nurses, in order to keep their investment in the health team and to strengthen the binomial leader/caregiver.