Invisibility of nursing work: technology as a means of combat - Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem

Invisibility of nursing work: technology as a means of combat |

In the common conception, work is commonly associated with a paid activity in a commercial and legal society, reflecting the modern view that limits it to time exchanged for wage. This perspective, influenced by Industrial Revolution principles, establishes a dichotomy between work and time outside of work, segmenting life into professional and private spheres. However, this approach fails to restrict work’s economic valuation solely to its visibility and ability to generate tangible results, ignoring the non-material production that also emerges from the time invested and is not culturally recognized as valuable⁽⁾.

Nursing work, like other activities related to care, tends to be made invisible and devalued. The relationship of care with people escapes management criteria and methods, bringing challenges to its measurement and, consequently, its valorization, even for nursing managers themselves who, for the most part, are male and female nurses: “outside of technical work, there is no work!”⁽⁾. Furthermore, the work of producing care comes up against the contemporary neoliberal capitalist context that naturalizes a culture of competitive individualism, compromising the social appreciation of those who provide care.

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