The health education a central element of nursing care

The International Council of Nurses in the United States describes that the role of the profession "encompasses the autonomous and collaborative care of individuals of all ages, families, groups and communities, and in all settings." This includes the promotion of health, the prevention of diseases and the care of sick, disabled and dying people. In this context, it considers "the promotion of a safe environment, research, participation in the formulation of health policies and in the management of health systems and patients, and education" as key functions of nursing. Purpose: to know health education as part of the role of nursing in their professional work. Methodology: bibliographic review that used the Medline databases with the search engine Pubmed and CINAHL /EBSCO, with the descriptors: education or nursing education and nurse's role or professional role, and Self-Care and effectiveness. We selected 23 articles that fulfilled the inclusion criteria: original research, between the years 2012-2018, in Spanish, English and Portuguese to full text. Results: Of the 23 scientific articles reviewed; 68.9% (14) are articles related to the Role of the Nurse, 30,43% (8) are quasi-experimental or experimental designs and 87.5% (7) correspond to educational programs or effective educational interventions. Only 2 of them don ' t have limitations. Conclusions: it is evident that since education, health education is developed at a less important level, which constitutes a threat because a basic tool for care could be lost, especially at the primary level of care, where education for the Health is fundamental for the change of health behaviors.