Abstract

Objective: To describe nursing care in central Chile after forming the Nursing Subdepartment of the National Health Service (NHS) in 1955. Methodology: Historical method. The primary sources are life stories of nurses, which were constructed as a chronicle, combined with documentary secondary sources, which gave context from 3 angles: the state's authority, the nursing collective, and personal writings of leading nurses of the period. Results: Three categories were organized: the public policy of the NHS nursing services, the development of nursing care in health units and hospital units. In the first category, it stands out that for nursing, this period constituted a synergy between public policy and the consolidation of its professionalization, within the beginning of the process of decentralization and the shortage of nurses. In the second category, in health units focused on prevention, nursing care was characterized by care in clinics and communities, especially for newborns and their mothers, in the context of poverty. In the third category, in low and high-complexity hospitals, the priority was the infant population, affected by malnutrition and infectious diseases. Nursing care addressed care, management, and education functions, in addition to activities of the medical role when there was no other resource. Conclusions: Framed in the SNS, the Subdepartment of Nursing was a structure that allowed professional nurses to systematize the work from prevention, promotion, and cure of health, in hospital and community services. It highlights the shortage of nurses, the beginning of the decentralization process, and the historical rigor and professionalism of Chilean nursing. It is necessary to continue deepening research that reveals the memory of Chilean nurses of this time.