ABSTRACT
Objective:
to learn coordinators and professors’ conceptions from undergraduate Nursing courses of public universities in northern Brazil regarding collective health and to know the necessary competencies to work in the area.
Method:
data were collected through semi-structured interviews and subjected to thematic analysis.
Results:
the participants consider population health as an essential area for the training of nurses, where professionals have autonomy and confidence. It is an interdisciplinary, intersectoral and multidisciplinary field, with extensive scope, that studies the Unified Health System (SUS). The competencies to work in collective health identified were: to work at the SUS, to understand the health and disease process and its determinants and to develop actions towards integrality, to conduct health education, researches and systematization of the nursing care.
Conclusion:
the variety of conceptions about collective health among participants might reflect in training of nurses and their working area.
Key words:
Public Health; Bachelor of Nursing; Professional Competence