Nursing: history and memories of the construction of a profession

Abstract

This is a study with a historical and qualitative approach that aims to analyze the nursing practice at the University Hospital Onofre Lopes in its pre-professional stage. This research is justified by the lack of records about nursing in an institution of great tradition in nursing teaching in the State of Rio Grande do Norte. The study was carried out in 2005 and the empirical research was backed by a survey of reports, minutes, letters, bylaws, statutes, acts, laws, decrees, photos and interviews with people who have vivid memories of the hospital history. In its early days, nursing in that institution held a close identity with the pre-professional stage of nursing in the world and in Brazil. At that time its staff was formed by assistants with no technical formation that were supervised by a group of nuns from the congregation of the Daughters of St. Anne. They were pioneers in the organization and administration of nursing care at the hospital and were also responsible for patient care all imbued with a purely charitable philosophy.