This work was presented on the XL CBEn, which was realized in Belem, PA, in 1988, around the central thematic-the process of working of the nursing helping in the result of the assistance to health. To start with this work, it brings a synthesis about the theoretic concept in nursing. Next it takes as an empirical date 16 interviews from nurses from Ribeirão Preto, we tried to verify if the real corresponds to the theoretical concepts, if the distances which are, the historical reasons for these distances, to characterize the process of working in nursing, their limitations and development, the division of the various agents and its result