This paper was grounded on a bibliographic search in November, 2009, through the Brazilian Government Agency database (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior) for Master's theses and PhD dissertations. The period under examination was delimited between 1998 and 2008, searching for the terms "health education", "nursing", and "hospital". Studies developed or carried out in the hospital context were included as well as/or theoretical reflections on this theme. Twenty-two papers were analyzed. Ten were identified which referred to health education and were conducted by nurses in the hospital unit context under a perspective of autonomy as a way to promote health. Nine were implemented and/or proposed by researchers who were not nursing caregivers at these units. This study concludes that health education needs to be inserted as inherent to nursing care in the hospital inpatient context. An approach grounded on active pedagogies is recommended in order to make an emancipating nursing practice and the empowerment of subjects and nurses possible.
Health education; Nursing; Nursing care; Hospitalization
