Theoretical-Methodological Contributions of Ergology to Research on Work in the Nursing Area

Abstract

Objective: the present study is a theoretical reflection aiming to systematize conceptual and methodological aspects of the ergologic perspective, emphasizing contributions to studies on the work in the nursing area. Methods: study developed based on selected texts by authors that take on the ergologic perspective to examine human work, discussing theoretical or methodological aspects. Publications about the work in the nursing and health fields that resorted to ergology were also included. The study considered books, master’s dissertations, doctoral theses, and scientific papers published in indexed journals and discusses the following concepts: prescribed work and real work; work and activity; experience and established knowledge; skill’s ingredients; and three-pole dynamic device. The study shows the method used in ergology, stressing the data collection process. A reflection about the contributions of this approach to understanding the work in the nursing area was carried out based on studies addressing the work in the health and nursing areas and ergology’s concepts and method, with emphasis on the richness of this theoretical-methodological framework for the development of research on this area. Results: work in the nursing area includes a combination of knowledge and practice that goes beyond reproducing standards, routines, and procedures prescribed by institutions and the profession itself. The execution of the work activity is complex and involves the debate of standards and poses a challenge to the act of working with competence, in the dialogical impermanence between knowing how to act and being able to act. Conclusion: ergology can be a fruitful theoretical and methodological framework to better understand the complexity of the work activity in the nursing area.

The organization of healthcare work in the light of ergology: experiences in the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Daily life made the use of oneself at work problematic, insofar as the safety of each person required attention to the smallest details, highlighting the relationship between small actions and big fears. From these workers, immediate decision- making was required, influenced by standards, processes, and public policies, as well as technical skills and legal limits of professional practice, in movements under flexibility margins that were never completely predetermined and normalized ( 9 ) .…”

“…It proposes discussing the world of work and organizations from the point of view of multiple knowledge and experiences, as it recognizes the different singularities and gaps between prescribed work and real work, in permanent recreation and production of reserves of organizational, social and political alternatives ( 8 ) . Its framework has been useful in studies involving the work process in health, either as a method or theory, with the aim of better understanding this work complexity ( 9 ) .…”

“…The purpose of this combination of concepts and standards is to predict any activity that workers will perform in the organizational environment. In ergology, the so-called antecedent standards, which guide the work in a never absolute way, articulate the set of regulations to cultural, historical, and value aspects ( 9 ) .…”

The use of selfbody in nurses work in hospital care: an ergology approach

“…Nowadays, one way to analyze the work is through ergology approach, based on Yves Schwartz's studies, who considers the results not only something mechanical or technical but an act of nature, something that constitutes the human being in all its complexity (4,6) . According to Schwartz, the work is the idea of somebody applying and executing activities and routines perceived as use, that is, when you make use of yourself, this is the use of selfbody.…”