The objective of this investigation was to identify nurses' practice in heath audit. The hermeneutic-dialectic method was used for the analysis. The study was performed in three loci: the internal audit service of a hospital; the external audit service of a private health service buyer, and the state audit service of the public health system (SUS, acronym in Portuguese for Sistema Único de Saúde - Unique Health System), in Bahia. Nine audit nurses were interviewed. In the SUS audit, the nurses report being fulfilled with their practice and with the valorization of their professional role. In the private audit - both inside and outside of health organizations - the nurses' activities are focused on meeting the interests of their contractors, and do not get much involved with the care delivered by the nursing team and with the needs of service users.
Nurses; Nursing; Nursing audit; Professional practice