PROFESSIONAL‘S VULNERABILITY AT THE FAMILY HEALTH STRATEGY

Introduction and Objectives: Brazil has assumed Primary Health Care as the main strategy of organization and strengthening of the National Health System, and its foremost instrument as the Family Health Strategy, a team consisting of doctors, nurses, nursing auxiliaries and community health agents. The Family Health Strategy has the family as subject and object of care, working on its geographic and existential territory, favoring the relationship among the health team and patients, also closing health professionals with their daily suffering, thus, the objective of this study was to identify the experience of family health team caring for patients in psychological distress. Method: This is a qualitative study. Data were obtained from focus group application to four family health teams. Data were analyzed using the technique of Bardin Content Analysis. Results and Conclusion: The work organization in the Family Health Strategy favors the broadening of the perception of health needs of the population and the close contact with the suffering of patients. During the meetings for the focus groups the vulnerability of health professionals to the emotions and feelings aroused in their daily work was unveiled and, thus, we concluded that the experience of caring for others in suffering creates great suffering for health professionals themselves, and it is fundamental the development of legitimate spaces for caring for the mental health of family health teams.