Introduction:

The nursing professional is able to provide care to people and communities from the different roles he or she assumes in the health system and that affect the quality of life of society.

Objective:

To identify in the scientific evidence published between 2011 and 2017 the role of nursing in the health system.

Materials and methods:

The bibliographic search was carried out in the data bases SciELO, PubMed, LILACS and ScienceDirect. Complete articles were selected in Spanish and English that presented in their titles the descriptors: nursing, role of nursing, health systems, advanced professional practice.

Results:

Fifty published studies were selected, which studied the health systems in Latin America, seeking to orient the role of nursing between 2011 and 2017. Three categories of interest could be found: Internships in the field of hospitality, community-based practices and teaching and research management.

Conclusion:

Despite the importance of the role played by nursing professionals in Colombia, there is no differentiation of profiles and functions within the health team; therefore, it is necessary to delimit some functions, to recover fields of action, strengthen leadership, autonomy and humanization in the provision of services.

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