Profesionalización de Enfermería Rural, circulación de saberes y políticas estatales de salud en La Araucanía-Chile, años 1970-1990.

Aiming to reveal the rural nursing professionalization, knowledge circulation and state health policies in the Araucania region in Chile, from 1970 to 1990, a historical, descriptive investigation is carried out. Oral history is worked, including 9 nurses through snowball sampling. The data are analysed by coding based on thematic criteria. Rigor is worked by researcher triangulation and Guba and Lincoln criteria. Ezekiel Emanuel's ethical principles are respected. As a result, the following metacategories emerge: Professional rural nursing practice marked by social needs, Professional practice duality, Rural assistants training, Health programs leadership and Personal living conditions transformation. It is concluded that nurses performed their role as health care managers with abnegation and prominent vocation based on the needs they faced, adapting themselves to rurality, living complex realities in an environment of poverty and social vulnerability, thus, developing personally and professionally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]