A POLUIÇÃO COMO IMPACTO AMBIENTAL NA SAÚDE PÚBLICA SOB O OLHAR DOS ENFERMEIROS DA ATENÇÃO PRIMÁRIA

The study aimed to identify nurses' perceptions about the impacts of pollution on public health in the context of primary care. A descriptive qualitative research, in which the data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews with 11 nurses in the Family Health Strategy of the city of Guanambi-Bahia. Three thematic categories were discussed: nurses' perception of environmental issues and pollution in public health; nurses' performance in primary care and their contribution to the reduction of pollution effects; relevance of nurses' training regarding environmental health impacts. With the results, it was possible to notice a gap between environmental issues and pollution in the actions of primary care nurses, since when they were asked about how air pollution could be related to respiratory problems the answers were vague and not specific, in the environmental area was non-existent and it was noticed the little knowledge about environmental barriers in the area of operation. Thus, it is perceived that nurses superficially address pollution in public health. This demonstrates the need for the nursing team to problematize this reality in order to expand health promotion actions so that environmental impacts as well as pollution are reduced.