ABSTRACT
Objective: to analyze the attitudes, knowledge and skills that make up the professional competencies of nurses working in indigenous territories.
Method: this is an exploratory-descriptive study with a qualitative approach, conducted with nurses working in the Xingu Indigenous Park in 2016. Data were obtained in semi-structured interviews and treated according to the thematic-categorical analysis method.
Results: the nurse’s performance in the Xingu Indigenous Park has a multifaceted character, being defined by the territory’s interculturality and specificities and by how the service is organized. Technical skills, concepts from anthropology and attitudes that facilitate a respectful dialogue with cultural difference are required for a professional to act in this context.
Final considerations: the performance of health professionals in indigenous territories requires specificities associated with the acquisition of new knowledge, attitudes and skills geared to the intercultural dimension of the work developed.
Descriptors: Nursing; Work; Health Services, Indigenous; Professional Competence; Primary Health Care