From technician to health professional: Analysis of professional identity (re)construction in the context of the Family Health Support Center

Abstract

By redefining the health practices of professionals included in the proposal, the implementation of the Family Health Support Center (NASF) in Brazil provoked, besides innovations, discussions in several areas, including the issue of professional identity. This article describes and analyzes the education and work trajectories of professionals who work in these Centers and discuss the process of (re)construction of their professional identities. This qualitative case study carried out semi-structured individual interviews with professionals working in Salvador, Bahia. Results showed that only after joining the NASF, did these individuals began to effectively recognize themselves as health professionals, as they developed actions beyond exclusively technical activities, based on the diverse healthcare needs of the territories. In these centers, they experienced a collaborative, independent, and complex teamwork, with an important degree of control over their own work, although with limitations. This context contributed to the process of professional de-alienation and formation of social subjects, making possible the emergence of an essentially strategic and relational form of identity, forged through interprofessional teamwork and potentially transforming the health care model in the context studied.