In the present study, the constitution of the clinical knowledge which guides the nurse practice, in the health primary attention, is analyzed, in order to use it on the object / subject of the action. Exploratory study with qualitative approach and thematic analysi of data. Semi-structured interviews were made with 65 nurses from the family health public services, in te southern part of Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil. The data was analyzed based on a matrix which sustains the nursing clinical science in a populational basis, constituted by three topics - the individual and the family, the community and the health system. It was made clear that the clinical knowledge organizes the nurse practice in the predominant focus of the individual and the family. Without, however, connecting to the origin - the populational base, through the way the clinical knowledge enables learning/knowing the object of the action. It is believed that these findings may subsidize a new reading of the organizational potential of the nursing clinical knowledge.
Primary health care; Health services; Public health nursing
