Abstract
This study aimed to analyze the health care practices developed by Primary Health Care nurses in rural contexts in the state of Bahia, Brazil, during the COVID-19 pandemic. A qualitative study was carried out with 22 of these professionals, using semi-structured interviews. The analysis of practices covered four dimensions: management, healthcare, teaching and participation/citizenship. The results indicated that care practices in the rural context suffered a series of paradoxes, including interruption/alteration in the areas of management, health care, teaching/research and social control, as well as the exacerbation of barriers to achieving access, comprehensiveness, longitudinality and coordination of care. On a positive note, surveillance actions became more central, as they served to guide the use of resources and provide technical, logistical and operational support to reduce the spread of the virus. The panoramic view of nurses’ practices during the pandemic revealed that despite advances in the dimensions evaluated, limitations need to be overcome in order to ensure the sustainability of the Primary Health Care model, the recognition and improvement of the practices developed by nurses in this area and their necessary appreciation.
Keywords
rural health services; primary care nursing; Primary Health Care; COVID-19