This paper aims to analyze the work process at a university hospital neonatal ICU in Cuiabá-MT. The data were collected through participant observation and documents. The results showed that concerning collective work, the main aim is diagnosis and therapy, with the medical act as its central nucleus, since this professional detains the work rationality. Situations of complementarity and interdependence were observed in the team's work, with moments of negotiation among nursing agents and physicians. The technological work organization at the neonatal ICU still shows in its daily life the images of a routine and technical work, marked by the preterm weak body appropriation, which characterizes the biologist and cure model of care.
health services; neonatal nursing; perinatal care; intensive care unit; neonatal