The workshops presented during the conference gave emphasis to the fact that the Brazilian scientific production within the nursing area has leapt from the 15^th to the 5^th position in global scale in a period of nine years, only staying behind countries such as the United States, England, Canada and Australia. “During the sixties of the last century, research in Brazil was characterized by the description of diseases, recognizability of signs, mechanisms and the possibility of treatment. Research was limited to the department context of the work group, closed within the most expressive hospitals”, said Marco Antonio Zago, pro-rector of the University of São Paulo. Nowadays, after fifty years, research is focused on new procedures, centered in problems, and does not respect institutional limitations.