title: The nursing care system from a Luhmannian perspective.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to investigate the socially-relevant communication of the nursing system from the Luhmannian perspective.
  
  
  METHODS
  the investigation process was based in grounded theory. The data was collected between February and September 2011, through interviews carried out with nurses and student nurses at a university in the South of Brazil.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The central phenomenon--recognizing nursing care as an all-embracing interactive and associative phenomenon--resulted from the inter-weaving of three categories: learning the context of care as a whole, organizing the environment for the other professionals, and visibilizing interactive and associative care.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  investing in a socially relevant communication for nursing entails developing a code for functional differentiation, which may strengthen health promotion and healthy living for individuals, families and communities.
authors.affiliation: Centro Universitário Franciscano, Santa Maria, RS, Brazil. backesdirce@ig.com.br
authors.forename: Dirce Stein
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Backes
authors.forename: Marli Stein
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Backes
authors.forename: Camila Biazus
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Dalcin
authors.forename: Alacoque Lorenzini
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Erdmann
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D009729:Nursing; D009742:Nursing Theory