ABSTRACT
Objective:
To analyze the genesis of the professional work of Brazilian nurses between 1920 and 1925.
Methods:
This is a historical research, qualitative in nature. The theoretical framework used was the Micro-history. The sources were official and institutional documents, agents' speeches, in addition to investigations related to the subject matter.
Results:
The historical evidence analyzed allows us to state that the genesis of the professional work of Brazilian nurses occurred under a state project of public health, enabled the implementation of national health policy in the 1920s, and established the practice bases of professional nurses in Brazil.
Conclusions:
Nursing structuring in the 1920s was a state strategy, which supported the implementation of the early health policy, whose operating axis was hygiene education. We may also conclude that nurses were important agents in the Brazilian public health history at that time.
Keywords:
Labor; Nurse; Public health; Nursing History