Direct cost of development and documentation of the nursing process.

Objective: identify the average direct cost (ADC) of the activities performed by nursing professionals in the nursing process development and documentation at the medical clinic of a teaching hospital.

Method: 1040 activities were observed and the ADC was calculated by multiplying the time spent by professionals by the unit cost of direct labor.

Results: the ADC of patient admission was R$ 55.57 (SD=19.44); among the activities of patient follow-up, the assessment phase documentation had the most significant ADC (R$ 17.70 - SD=14.60); the ADC of descriptive records corresponded to R$ 1.21 (SD=1.21) and the ADC of the nursing team for shift change was R$ 54.23 (SD=28.95).

Conclusion: the study promotes visibility of the work performed by nursing professionals in the development of the nursing process, providing financial data to ensure consistent arguments for proper resources to its feasibility.