The subject of this study is the changes the nursing field went through during the period called Novo Estado. OBJECTIVES: analyze the nursing environment in the Federal Capital during the period mentioned; discuss the effects of the influence of the Catholic Church and nurses of the American government in the Brazilian nursing environment. SOURCES: documents obtained from the Documentation Center in Anna Nery/UFRJ School of Nursing and from literature on the topic. The interpretation of the findings was based on the Theory of the Social World by Pierre Bourdieu. Results showed deep changes in terms of professional education, labor market and institutionalization of the nursing assistance in a period (after the World War II) in which the Catholic Church and the United States had increased their power and influence. This new context determined the reconfiguration of the identity of Brazilian nurses and of the nursing field.
history of nursing; nursing teaching; Brazil