Professional nursing activities in the health teams of the primary health care level in Uruguay

Objective: to define the activities that should be conducted by professional nurses of the primary healthcare level (PHC) within the framework of the Primary Health Care Strategy. Method: exploratory study based on consultation to academic experts and scholars in two stages. Results: nine Community Nursing Experts from the School of Nursing of the University of the Republic of Uruguay participated in the study. The main result was the achievement of a consensus by academic experts on the activities to be developed by professional nurses in the primary healthcare level. Conclusions: the wide array of activities that maybe developed by nurses in the Primary Healthcare Level and the inclusion of the Primary Health Care Strategy conceptual framework ratifies the importance of these professionals as members of the health team to encourage change in the healthcare model proposed by the National Integrated Health System. Defining the activities to be developed by nursing professionalS in the primary healthcare level will enable a more accurate description of their role in the health team and maximise their development. It is important to learn about the results on activities conducted by general practitioners and the opinions of each group with regard to both professions, and to continue to study the development of complementary, supplementary or substitute activities by these and other professionals in the health team.