ABSTRACT
Professional nursing in Chile has experienced, and continues to experience, significant changes related to the political, social and economic transformations taking place in the nation. To accommodate the need for specialized nursing practitioners, it was necessary to create graduate level education in nursing at Chilean universities. In sum, nursing in Chile can benefit from a critical examination, starting with the issues of globalization and health care and continuing with discussions of gender, hegemony, subordination and submission of nurses and of health care itself. In terms of political economy Chile is capitalist, but it tends toward left-of-center wing populist ideology. Health and welfare systems in Chile are highly politicized. In Latin America, the movement toward neoliberalism almost always happened through military takeovers. Research studies were carried out to investigate the perceptions and expectations of Chilean people regarding the health care system. Professional nursing needs a plan to evaluate its outcomes in all settings where nursing is practiced.
