Introduction

the Systematization of Nursing Care is one of the main tools for the development and organization of services for nursing professionals, its application guides the planning of individualized care and focuses on the specific needs of each individual.

Objective

the study’s general purpose is to analyze primary health nursing care in light of the basic human needs theory.

Methods

this is a descriptive study with a qualitative approach, developed in the city of Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil, with nurses from the Basic Family Health Units. As a method for organization and interpretation, we opted for the content analysis proposed by Bardin.

Results

the Systematization of Nursing Care is perceived by nurses as an instrument for organizing care, but in practice, they think it is focused on assistance directed to the use of ministerial protocols. In this context, it was also evidenced that they focus on aid for health problems and complaints, indicating the anamnesis as a phase of the implemented nursing process with the other stages focused on the diagnosis of the disease and specific interventions.

Conclusion

our findings showed that professionals in primary health care end up directing their care only to momentary complaints, failing to broaden their look as a whole. In this way, assistance occurs in a fragmented way, failing to meet the real needs of the population.