The launch of the book “Do ENEE à Ordem – Uma visão realista muito particular” by Rui Cavaleiro was held at the Faculty of Medicine of the UL on 9 October. This books describes the journey and the evolution, sometimes faster, others slower, of the life of someone who chose nursing as his first degree.

While reflecting an individual understanding of some subjects, the book presents an overall view of other matters. Appropriate to the reality that sometimes one has difficulty accepting, it encompasses the unpretentiousness of our country, but it also points to the need for progress in order to go further. Innovative in some aspects, not so much in others, this is what can be expected when the aim is to tell the ever present truth that has not yet been written.

Biography
Having worked briefly at the emergency department of Arcebispo João Crisóstomo Hospital in Cantanhede, he began working at the psychiatric unit of Santa Maria Hospital in Lisbon in 2002, where he has been to date. He also worked for a short period at the medicine unit of the Main Military Hospital, and was then invited to be part the emergency department of Júlio de Matos Hospital, where he headed a team for several years.

He founded and has coordinated the services of ED- Enfermeiros ao Domicílio, a company that has been providing health care at home across the country since 2007.

He graduated in Nursing at the Bissaya Barreto Higher School of Nursing, currently the Higher School of Nursing of Coimbra. He holds a master degree in Palliative Care from the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon, and is a specialist in Mental Health and Psychiatry from the São Francisco das Misericórdias Higher College of Nursing. He is now a PhD student in Metabolic Diseases and Eating Behaviour at the Faculty of Medicine of Lisbon.

Comments, topics mentioned in the book One of the major problems of nursing is its image in society. It must break away with the association to the mere needle and syringe and the “cap”, and the underlying sensual image that these days has become so kitsch. When society stops seeing nurses as subservient to other professions, they will be able to aspire to a fair and adequate salary. But completing degrees, specialties and masters is not enough, nurses must demonstrate on the ground that they deserve and are entitled to it.

I foresee difficult times ahead. However, the burst of the optimization of nursing professionals in primary health care, their involvement in several managerial activities, their specializations, and the differentiated care provision of excellence, makes me also see the light in the distance.