The study aimed at analyzing four proposals of obstetric assistance that co-existed in the city of Rio de Janeiro from the early Thirties to the Fifties, as well as discussing the inclusion of graduated and non-graduated accoucheuses, and nurses. It is of a historical-social nature, making use of the written document as a primary source. The analysis is based Pierre Bourdieu's main concepts. With this research, it was possible to make evident the domiciliary obstetric service of the sanitarist model, the philanthropic proposal of society's ladies, the individualized hospital-based assistance, and the proposal of integrated obstetric assistance. The study also allowed the understanding of the exclusion of non-graduated women from the Brazilian obstetric field.
obstetric nursing; nursing history; obstetrics
