The Systematization of Nursing Care / Nursing Process is a private activity exclusive of the nursing profession, which contributes to the promotion, prevention, recovery and rehabilitation of the individual, family and/or community. This study aimed to improve physical examination instruments, which constitutes the first phase of the nursing process. These instruments are based on the Theory of Basic Human Needs, targeting postpartum and newborn care, which implements the steps of the nursing process in a maternity ward of a university hospital in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The Hospital intertwines field practice, research and extension in collaboration with the University's academic nursing departments. Developed in light of convergent-care research, the experience provided conditions for strengthening the partnership between teaching and service, strategy for improving the quality of care and training, and contributed to the redefinition health of care and education.
Nursing process; Physical Examination; Nursing