Identity of primary health care nurses: perception of "doing everything"

OBJECTIVE: To analyze, in the speeches of nurses, the habitus that conforms their professional identity in the primary health care area. METHOD: Qualitative study, carried out from March to October 2015, with nurses of primary healthcare units in the cities of Cajazeiras, in the state of Paraíba, and Maracanaú, in the state of Ceará. Data were collected by means of semi-structured interviews, and analyzed through discourse analysis. RESULTS: Nurses, in their practice and perception, perceive that professional identity is linked to the meaning that involves the word "everything". This situation constitutes a habitus that directs the range of daily actions, often distant from the profession's core of knowledge. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: Trying to be and do everything in primary health care involves negative repercussions in the professional identity of nurses. Strategic guidance is necessary in order to achieve and embrace elements that reflect the essence of this category.