Perceptions of the nursing team in the service to the indigenous population in a basic health unit in the city of Manaus

Abstract

Objective: To understand the perceptions of the nursing team in providing care to the indigenous population in Primary Health Care. Methods: This is a field research, descriptive, qualitative, carried out in a Basic Health Unit, in Manaus-AM. The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire with open questions. The participants were six nursing technicians and one nurse, who had worked in the senior team for three months. Results: The main perceptions of nursing professionals in caring for indigenous people were the barriers faced by cultural habits, highlighting the issue of linguistic differences. In addition, another factor was the resistance of the indigenous people to adopt Western medicine as a treatment. Conclusion: Thus, our main challenges are the specialized and continuous training of health professionals regarding the health of indigenous populations. The main factors that interfere with differentiated care are: the absence and non-recognition of indigenous individuals in health services, language and the association of cultural habits with health care. Among the main strategies is the professional's understanding of the culture of the indigenous individual.