Study guided by Norberto Elias's theoretical, methodological background, which objectified to analyze the changes in nurses' work process at a Teaching Hospital since the implementation of the Unified Health System. Data were gathered by means of an interview applied to 12 nurses working in the studied setting since 1990, with further discourse analysis. Eight themes emerged as results (integrality, decentralization, hierarchization, regionalization, work process, health funding and social control), and 35 thematic statements, categorized from concepts of figuration, interdependence and tension balance, which enabled discussions on relational dynamics between society and individuals in order to apply Unified Health System principles, and tension production to carry out the work process. We concluded that Unified Health System implementation-ridden changes reflected on such professionals' work process even indirectly.
Nursing; Health public policy; Unified Health System
