This study analyzes the nurse's participation in implementing the Family Health Program (PSF) in Belo Horizonte and aims at understanding their inclusion and expectations as an agent in the organization of health services and in overcoming problems found in the implementation of the program in a large city. A qualitative approach is used based on dialectic historic materialism. Eleven nurses participating in the PSF were the subjects of the research. Data was collected by means of a semi-structured interview and submitted to a discourse analysis treatment. The results demonstrate that the nurse has been involved with family health and playing a significant role ever since the implementation of the Community Health Agents Program (PACS) and that their inclusion in the PSF is favored both by their generalist background and their experience in planning, executing and evaluating health actions. Factors related to the nurse's work conditions, such as inadequacy of the environment, differentiated salary and treatment in relation to the doctor in team activities and the overload of tasks and responsibilities stand out as difficulty factors in implementing the PSF in Belo Horizonte.
family health; nurses; national health programs