Systematization of Nursing Care: seeking defining and differentiating theoretical contours.

The objective of this study was to elaborate theoretical propositions to help understanding the Systematization of Nursing Care as a distinct phenomenon of the Nursing Process. It is a reflective, theoretical study that presented two categories: "Systematization of Nursing Care: seeking differentiating contours" and "Systematization of Nursing Care: seeking defining contours". It was identified that the systematization is not concerned with guiding the professional nursing care itself, since this issue, together with the guidelines regarding the elaboration of clinical documentation resulting from the implemented nursing care, is related to the process. Despite what the Systematization of Nursing Care is, the idea is that it is a field of knowledge that, through its three pillars and constituent elements, supports the structuring of nursing services and, consequently, the organization or reorganization of professional work in nursing. It is concluded that systematization, in the light of the theoretical propositions presented here, is an area of knowledge that represents a particular way of carrying out the management of nursing services when the three pillars that compose it are considered.