The notion of comprehensiveness encompasses three sets of meanings: the practices of healthcare professionals, the attributes of the service organization and the government responses to health-related problems. This study had the aim of analyzing and discussing the meanings relating to comprehensiveness of the actions of the healthcare team in a pediatrics ward of a university hospital in the interior of the state of Rio Grande do Sul. This was a qualitative study in which data were collected through interviews and analyzed through thematic analysis. The comprehensiveness of professionals' practices is focused on the dimension relating to professional action, in which they seek to associate assistance and prevention, considering the hospitalized children within their social and economic contexts. The importance of team work is highlighted, but difficulties in making this effective were found. These difficulties impair the interlinking of actions towards comprehensive healthcare.
Comprehensive healthcare; Patient caret; Professional practice; Hospital services; Pediatrics