Significado do trabalho: perspectivas de profissionais de enfermagem atuantes em unidades clínicas

Objective: to understand the meaning of work, from the perspective of nursing professionals. Methods: qualitative research, conducted in a clinical inpatient unit of a university hospital. The study included 20 nursing professionals contacted through semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed through the thematic content analysis technique, emerging the categories: perspectives and meanings attributed to the world of work by nursing professionals and situations that cause pleasure and suffering and their influences in the health-disease process of workers. Results: one identified positive and negative aspects inherent to the nursing work in the hospital environment and highlighted the illness that comes with the  working process. Conclusion: the experiences of pleasure and pain are inherent to the context of nursing professionals who work in hospital environments and contribute to a search for better conditions of work place and quality of life for these professionals.