Parteiras-enfermeiras e Enfermeiras-parteiras: a interface de profissões afins, porém distintas.

Abstract

In 2005, the Midwifery course at undergraduate level was created at the University of Sao Paulo, which has intensified discussions about educational models for non-medical professionals for delivery care. This study aims at deepen the understanding of meanings related to re-starting the mentioned course at the present moment involving delivery and childbirth care. Past events that have influenced models for delivery care by non-medical personnel were considered: the enactment of a law for midwives in England, in 1902, which included this practice into the official national health system, the traditional midwife work in the U.S.A. considered as peripheral and emblematic moments dispute between nurses and midwives in Brazil.