The Brazilian Unified Health Care System (Sistema Único de Saúde) demands new skills for collective health care management, including effecting social participation and the case-resolving capacity of assistance. This article reports a situational strategic planning experience carried out by the nursing school at Unochapecó in the second semester of 2008. As a Pro-Health activity, the use of this management tool in collective health care was analyzed. From the prioritized problems, the following goals were established: professional education and performance which are coherent with the family health care strategy, emphasizing the situational diagnosis and the schedule of inter-sector actions. Despite the resistance of some workers concerning changes, favourable aspects were emphasized: weekly team meetings, the existence of local health care councils, and the initiatives of community educational actions. This exercise strengthened the students' communication, leadership, and decision-making skills, bringing together subjects involved in education and service.
Nursing Education; Strategic planning; Health care management