A new stategy in the combat of tuberculosis in Brazil: implications for nursing practice

Abstract

The aims of the social-historical study are: to describe the situation existing during the implementation of the Program of Action to fi ghting Tuberculosis in Brazil in 1961. It analyzes the implications of this turning-point in order to stress the importance of the assistance from nursing practice in the fi ght against tuberculosis. The analysis of the documental corpus, based on the concepts of habitus, fi eld and symbolic power of Pierre Bourdieu, was based on written and oral documents and secondary sources. With the investigation we found out that the reconfi guration of nursing care took place under the leadership of a nurse whose symbolic capital conferred power and prestige to implement the necessary changes. The performance of the nurse permitted the introduction of a new program and helped to demarcate the space and the importance of registered nurses in the assistance of tuberculosis carriers.