Nursing in contemporary Brazil: From the exposed model to the model in use

Introduction: Nursing education in Brazil has evolved to break paradigms in the practice of teaching with possibilities of improving the quality of teaching-learning process and of nurses’ care practices. Objectives: To identify the schools of thought/ theories/models exposed during the nursing degree course; to question about the schools of thought/ theories/models used in the nursing practice and their modernity. Methods: Exploratory-descriptive and transversal nature study, conducted on a sample of 61 participants; 85.2% women, aged between 21 and 39 years old (91%), mostly from the Faculty CESMAC Hinterland (82%). The collection of data was supported by the Questionnaire Cunha & Fernandes (2014). Results: The innovative paradigms (Innovative Paradigm in teaching with progressive approach and research) were the most frequently quoted as the dominant ones during the nursing training (22.9%) and practice (24.6%), followed by a traditional paradigm with 21.3% and 18%, correspondingly. The schools of nursing thought more quoted were the one of needs, with 69.3% vs. 50.8% respectively. The most mentioned theories were the ones developed by Florence Nightingale (41% vs. 31.1%), Wanda de Aguiar (27.9% vs.19,7%) and Dorothea Orem (24.6% vs.18%). The most quoted teaching method used in the academy was the expository one (37.7%), the inclusion of simulated practice in nursing training was suggested by 94.8% of nurses and 23% of them would opt for a specialization in emergency room and urgency care. Conclusions: The tendencies of the results suggest that the schools of thought / theories / models used in care nursing practice are in line with the discussion accomplished during the training course, carrying out challenges to the nursing teaching academy and research in Brazil.