Short-course therapy for tuberculosis: a discourse analysis.

Objective:: to analyze the meanings produced by nursing professionals in the directly observed treatment (DOT) for tuberculosis (TB) in the city of São Paulo.

Method:: this is a qualitative study, conducted in March and April 2014 through semi-directed interviews with nine nurses. The empirical material produced was analyzed according to the theoretical and methodological support of the Discourse Analysis of French matrix.

Results:: results have emerged as three discursive blocks: conditions for the production of tuberculosis control practices; production conditions facilitating the treatment of tuberculosis; and production conditions hindering the treatment of tuberculosis.

Conclusion:: these professionals' words produce different meanings, which suggest that the practices of nursing professionals allow the patient to search for a cure, which is reinforced by incentives of a social nature, but permeated by the vicissitudes that are circumscribed in the ill person's everyday production conditions.