THEORETICAL-METHODOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF ERGOLOGY TO RESEARCH ON WORK IN THE NURSING AREA

Abstract

ABSTRACT Objective: the present study is a theoretical reflection aiming to systematize conceptual and methodological aspects of the ergologic perspective, emphasizing contributions to studies on the work in the nursing area. Methods: study developed based on selected texts by authors that take on the ergologic perspective to examine human work, discussing theoretical or methodological aspects. Publications about the work in the nursing and health fields that resorted to ergology were also included. The study considered books, master’s dissertations, doctoral theses, and scientific papers published in indexed journals and discusses the following concepts: prescribed work and real work; work and activity; experience and established knowledge; skill’s ingredients; and three-pole dynamic device. The study shows the method used in ergology, stressing the data collection process. A reflection about the contributions of this approach to understanding the work in the nursing area was carried out based on studies addressing the work in the health and nursing areas and ergology’s concepts and method, with emphasis on the richness of this theoretical-methodological framework for the development of research on this area. Results: work in the nursing area includes a combination of knowledge and practice that goes beyond reproducing standards, routines, and procedures prescribed by institutions and the profession itself. The execution of the work activity is complex and involves the debate of standards and poses a challenge to the act of working with competence, in the dialogical impermanence between knowing how to act and being able to act. Conclusion: ergology can be a fruitful theoretical and methodological framework to better understand the complexity of the work activity in the nursing area.