This research was aimed at examining the organization of labor processes in an emergency service as well as the autonomy nursing workers have when providing care. It is a qualitatively-oriented case study. Data were collected by free observation, with focus on the service provided to users. It was observed that the labor process is organized around the treatment of the main complaint, having the doctor's visit as its core action. Technological organization places doctors as the main power holders, followed by nurses in their spaces of power and autonomy - an autonomy that is seldom exercised by the remaining agents. Nurses' work is crucial, traversing all spaces of service and interlinking actions; however, it is seen as supplementary to primary care activities.
Health Services; Quality of Health Care; Emergency Medical Services; Nursing; Professional autonomy