Introduction:

The Nursing Process (NP) as the guide to care is encouraged from the beginning of the academic formation; and understanding the meaning which this process has to senior nursing students can yield a more precise visualization of the difficulties regarding its application and, consequently, the possibility to promote strategies aimed at strengthening the related quality of education.

Objective:

To understand the meaning which NA has to senior nursing students.

Method:

This is a study with a qualitative focus. The theoretical and methodological references were the Symbolic Interactionism and the Data Grounded Theory. The sample was formed until theoretical saturation was reached. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews on 17 nursing students in the 10th cycle of a private university in Lima Este. Based on the Strauss and Corbin coding, the data analysis yielded the categories, subcategories, and main phenomenon.

Results:

Five categories emerged: 1) The care using the NP from the beginning of the formation (Causal condition); Satisfaction or insatisfaction while providing care through the NP (Context); NP as a research tool in the professional formation (Intervening conditions); 4) Difficulties while using the NP in the day-to-day activities of the professionals (Action / Interaction strategies); and 5) Improvements in the practice as the result of using the NP (Consequences).

Conclusions:

The central phenomenon is the NP which guides the nursing care in the provision of integral attention based on scientific and wide in scope projection.