ABSTRACT
Objective:
analyze the implementation process of the human milk bank of a university hospital in the state of Espírito Santo and discuss the implications of this deployment to the regional nursing practice.
Method:
in this historical and social search the primary sources were interviews conducted with eight nurses, and documents from the nursing section. The thematic content analysis and the theoretical framework of Pierre Bourdieu allowed mediation of the objective and subjective dimensions of the social world.
Results:
it was evidenced that the milk bank was designed in 1993 and implemented in 1994 by three nurses and a doctor. In its historical path, the human milk bank had the participation of nurses involved in knowledge-power relations marked by symbolic violence and resistance to the hegemonic medical power of the time.
Conclusion:
it was concluded that the implementation of a human milk bank did not happen as anticipated by the public policy of the time, which was the result of a complex power game involving health professionals and the institution itself.
DESCRIPTORS:
Nursing; Human milk banks; History of nursing.