Nursing student’s view on comprehensive healthcare - doi: 10.4025/cienccuidsaude.v11i2.12822

Abstract

The objective of this study is to better understand the perceptions of the undergraduate nursing students concerning comprehensive healthcare.  This is a qualitative, exploratory-descriptive study carried out through semi-structured interviews involving 19 Brazilian nursing students. The results point out that comprehensiveness is understood as caring for the human being in its wholeness considering existing contexts. However, it is emphasized that the application of wholeness within basic health care is understood to be  through home visits and discussions, but it is more difficult to be seen in the hospital area.  In the view of the research subjects, there is a pedagogical intention to contribute to the application of the principle of integrality during the activities developed in the nursing course.  However, they recognize some fragility in its use, mainly in hospital care, where education for caregiving  is focused upon the disease.