The study analyzed the circumstances of the work of nursing attendants, assistants and technicians in the civil society of Alagoas in the 1980s. This is a qualitative, social-historical and analytical research. Written and oral sources were used, produced in interviews conducted with recourse to thematic oral history, with those who witnessed the historical phenomenon. The information was analyzed under the grammaticalist aegis. The hegemony of the State during the military regime was observed, as well as its influence on the nursing work in the civil society of Alagoas, denoting the precariousness of the work environment, work overload, moral harassment and in some cases the exposure to work risks.