Cancer control and improvement in health care services require investment in education. We aim in this paper to update the historical retrospective in order to implement medical oncology teaching in nursing undergraduate courses in Brazil and to describe the teaching advancements in this subject at the Paulista Nursing School at the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil (Escola Paulista de Enfermagem da Universidade Federal de São Paulo). This is a descriptive study with a historical perspective, using documental analysis. Primary sources were event reports. Secondary sources were nursing articles published in national periodicals. The dynamic and collective character of creating the teaching proposal for medical oncology was decisive in developing its pragmatic and operational structure under the light shed by the concepts of cross-section and interdisciplinary aspects; and by the defense of articulation between educational and service institutions, and by the policy of continuous professional improvement. We conclude that advancements were not homogeneous in the different Brazilian regions and among teaching and health institutions; indicating the need to resume the process.
Education; nursing; Oncology nursing; Historical article
