Symbolic fights of nurses in implementation of the program of family health

Objective: To describe the symbolic struggle of nurses in the implementation of the Family Health Program in Teresina and analyze the strategies undertaken to ensure their participation in the program. Method: historical-social study, we used the concepts of Pierre Bourdieu as a theoretical framework, oral and documentary primary sources. Oral sources were derived from interviews with 11 nurses and a member of the health management who experienced this process. After the completion of each interview were performed transcription and thorough reading of the same, in order to organize the document body to be worked. Results: As they were acting, the nurses began to fight for the overthrow of the ruling power, established strategies in the processes of selection and hiring, updated the professional habitus, reacted as the wage gap between doctors and nurses and claimed professional autonomy. Conclusion: Nurses gained ground through struggles undertaken and even often at a disadvantage in relation to the domination of the field, demonstrated strength and resilience.