Comprometimento e entrincheiramento com a carreira de enfermeiros da atenção primária à saúde

Abstract

Career commitment comprises a positive relationship of workers with their profession. Career entrenchment comprises the workers´ stagnation in a professional position. Objetivo: To evaluate the levels of commitment and entrenchment with career and its association with sociodemographic and professional variables of nurses in Primary Health Care. Method: Cross-sectional, descriptive, and analytical study performed with nurses from primary care units in two municipalities in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. An instrument with sociodemographic and professional data and the Brazilian versions of the Career Commitment and the Career Entrenchment Scales were used. Results: Ninety-two nurses participated: 77 (83.7%) from São José do Rio Preto and 15 (16.3%) from Adamantina. The nurses showed a higher average regarding career commitment (61.4); the identity factor had a high level (70.9); resilience and career planning achieved average levels (62.5 and 50.8, respectively). Career entrenchment (57.8) and its respective factors reached average levels (investments: 57.7; limitation of alternatives: 58.8; emotional costs: 57.0). The level of identity with the career was significantly higher according to the hired nurses (p = 0.033); public servant nurses had a greater loss of investments in the event of a career change (p = 0.015); hired professionals had higher emotional costs in the event of a career change (p = 0.012). Conclusion: Nurses showed a greater identification and a positive relationship with the career than stagnation, that is, they have remained in the career because they identify themselves with the profession. Before leaving the career, nurses from large centers have considered the investments in training and the efforts expended in the construction and structuring of the career, while nurses from smaller cities have considered the lack of new professional alternatives. The hired nurses have considered the lost investments, while the public servant nurses, the emotional losses before leaving the career. The results of this study provided a positive impact on the management of primary health care services, since they favor the directing of personal and working development actions by PHC nurses, contributing to consolidation of the National Primary Care Policy, the advancement and the strengthening of Health Unic System in the municipalities of the study.