Supervision of nurses at a basic health unit

The issue addressed in this article is the supervision of middle-level nursing staff in serving spontaneous demand at a basic health unit in São Paulo (Brazil). The goal was to analyze how these workers are supervised and how the supervisor proceeds. It is a qualitative study based on the direct observation of a typical work week, with thematic analysis supported by the NVivo software and by the work process supervision framework. Fifty-five cases served by the nursing staff, done at the supervisor's request in 23 cases, were observed. The biomedical approach focused on acute or chronic complaints and on drug prescriptions and tests predominated both in cases requested by the supervision and in the supervisors' responses. It was concluded that the supervision of the mid-level nursing staff by a higher level professional in the receipt of spontaneous demand enhances this activity's solvability. It is recommended, however, to expand the focus of the understanding and analysis of user needs from the perspective of completeness.

user embracement; nursing supervision; primary health care; work; interpersonal relationships