[Nursing work in the discharge of hospitalized children: articulation between primary care and hospital care].

This study aims to ascertain the nurse's role in the discharge process of children from hospitals, in the articulation between hospital care and primary care, from the point of view of comprehensive care. The methodology has a qualitative exploratory descriptive approach. It uses semi-structured interviews with seven nurses of hospital care and six of primary care, collected from December 2008 to January 2009, in their own workplaces. Results show a gap in the post-discharge nursing process, because there is virtually no articulation between hospital care and primary care. Primary health nurse often do not act in this process, because it is difficult to identify the child as discharged from a hospital. The actions of each nurse can not always go beyond their workplaces. Professionals involved in this process acknowledge their limitations where this articulation is concerned, and this documents the necessity of a reorganization of the work process.