This article identifies and describes historical processes that contributed, along with academic training, to the professionalization of nursing between the 1930s and 1950s in Chile, moving away from the association of this activity with domestic service. Based on medical documentary sources such as monographs and journals, the article examines public debates on: The links established by nurses with the medical community and other paramedical professions; the impact of training, which was heavily influenced by the North American experience; the gradual healthcare specialization and its role in maternal-child care policies. Within the framework of the professionalization of female healthcare professions, based on gender norms, the article explores some effects of these processes on the training of nurses, which enabled the construction of a professional identity that progressively gained the recognition of the medical community and achieved greater autonomy for the practice of their specific tasks in Chile in the mid-20th century.