Nursing history research: review of publications 2000-2008

Abstract

In the late twentieth century nursing history research in Brazil began to gain momentum indicating the need to rethink nursing education and performance throughout the profession's development. This study aimed to analyse the knowledge production about nursing history and the space dedicated to articles on that subject in national journals from 2000 to 2008. The study intended to understand how research has evolved in the area and to alert researchers about possible publishing needs and issues related to nursing history to be explored. A bibliographic research in LILACS and BDENF databases using the descriptor "History of Nursing" was conducted. 212 items related to the topic were found. The articles were divided into three main categories: "assistance", "organizational"and "professional". The "professional" category produced the largest number of articles, followed by "organizational" and "assistance", respectively. The magazine that published the largest number of articles was the Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem (Brazilian Journal of Nursing) and most authors had only one article published in it. Despite the apparently impressive number of articles on nursing history, this field needs to be explored further, as most articles are still concentrated in one same area and are produced by a reduced group of professionals interested in the subject