[Nursing records trajectory: a survey of national journals (1957-2005)]

This paper is an outcome of a survey on nursing records, made in 2005, through the University of São Paulo, School of Nursing, data basis called Perienf. It aimed at describing data according to categories and analyse themes most cited in the content of the nursing records. Content analysis by Bardin was utilized for this technical analysis of 51 selected texts from 1957 to 2005. There was a progressive growth of studies on the subject, being descriptive records the most studied and discussed. However this nursing action is being kept as a mechanical act, with scarce content and without reflecting nursing care effectively delivered to patient.