摘要
objective: the study aimed to understand the working process of the nurse according to the perspective of professors of the undergraduate nursing course at universidade federal de sˋo paulo. methods: exploratory study with a qualitative approach, having 14 professors as its subjects; the focus group technique was chosen for data collection, and the material was analyzed according to the method of content analysis. results: the meaning of the nurses%26apos; working process comprised three categories: composition of the nurses%26apos; working process, differentials of the nurses%26apos; work when compared to other healthcare professionals and dichotomies of the nurses%26apos; working process in education. conclusion: the meanings of this process were the group of the working processes: caring, managing, teaching and researching, whose working core is the process of caring. however, healthcare management was not evidenced by the focus group. the nurses%26apos; working process was considered complex and confusing.