History of the Nursing Assistant School of Natal

Abstract

The text by Lucimar Gomes de Freitas, nurse and former Principal of the Nursing Assistant School of Natal, published in issue No. 6 of the Brazilian Journal of Nursing (“Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem”) in December 1963, presents in a concise way information about the initial years of this institution that, for the state of Rio Grande do Norte, represents the starting point of teaching according to Nightingale’s precepts. Its fax publication gains relevance as it is an essential source for understanding the professionalization of Nursing in the state, and because it is probably the first record of her activities in a national journal. Carefully written, it discusses the preliminary efforts to start the School and exposes the inter-institutional understandings necessary for its functioning; the adoption of strategies for the composition of the faculty; the rotation of the nurses in the position of Principal; the wait for authorization by the Ministry of Education and Culture; the students’ progress, detailed over years; and the list of graduates in professional activities. This is possibly what best describes the earnestness with which education was carried out in the Nursing Assistant School of Natal, as the insertion of its graduates in the job market crossed the state’s borders.