Reflections by Edith de Magalhães Fraenkel about the Nursing curriculum in the 1940s*

Abstract

Introduction: Edith de Magalhães Fraenkel was responsible for the organization and creation of the Nursing School of the Medical College at the University of São Paulo. In the school's first operational year, its Director publishes a series of articles in Revista Médico-Social entitled “Pontos do currículo para Escolas de Enfermagem” (“Curricular Items for Nursing Colleges”). Objective: to analyze the reflections of Prof. Edith de Magalhães Fraenkel on the Nursing curriculum, published in Revista Médico-Social between 1942 and 1943, and their repercussions for the Nursing School. Method: a historical perspective study, under the prism of Micro-History. Results: the documentary corpus consisted of seven articles. The discourse about the curriculum presented American influence mediated by the involvement of the Rockefeller Foundation with the University of São Paulo and even in Revista Médico-Social, in addition to the Anglo-American example of the Nursing standard-model that was in force at the time. Final considerations: the author's discussions about recruitment, hour load, curricular contents, theory and practice time, administrative arrangement and school-hospital relationship, and strategies to avoid exploitation of the student workforce, also incorporate American references, even due to the professor's training and to her complementary studies in North America, with emphasis on the Human and Social Sciences in the training of nurses.