OBJECTIVE: To describe the profile of nurses engaged in teaching a course in hospital administration during the 1970. METHODS: This was a historical documentary consisting of primary and secondary sources produced between 1975 and 2009. The content contained in these sources was analyzed against the nursing work process, and studied in light of the theory of bureaucracy. RESULTS: We described the professional profile of four nurses: the first faculty director of The School of Nursing, University of Sao Paulo; the second was an American professor in a master of science course at Incarnate Word College, Texas; the third was the first president of the Regional Nursing Council of São Paulo; and the fourth was Director of Nursing Service of the Heart Institute of the Hospital de Clinicas, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sao Paulo. CONCLUSION: We found that these nurses held positions of esteem and status in their careers and that this prestige, possibly, has added value to the courses discussed
Health administration/education; Faculty, nursing; History of nursing; Education, higher