In recent years, the increasing demands and complexity of nursing activity justifies, on one hand, the recognition of the importance of educational institutions contributions to the professional development of nurses, offering a variety of postgraduate training and, on the other hand, the urgency of the personal investment of nurses in their continuous training, coexisting continuing training courses of short duration with the frequency of 2nd and 3rd cycle of study, where the research is the principal standard.  Focusing our attention at the level of the 2nd cycle of studies (master degree), it intends to promote the development of advanced working practices in contexts of professional recipients, enabling conditions for deepening of professional knowledge, and promote the research dimension among professionals. This training space becomes a privileged moment to reinforce a sense of sharing and belonging, and is essential to the establishment of discursive communities capable of making evolve the professional knowledge and, of course, the very profession, contributing also to the improvement of the quality of health care. Further a personal, interpersonal and professional development, the 2nd cycles of studies allows a development that can project beyond the personal sphere. We highlight the importance that postgraduate training may come to play in the development of the contexts of work while learning contexts, giving answers to current health care demands. In a time of great social challenges with implications for the health of individuals, the need to anchor the training of nurses in research and disciplinary knowledge is essential.

Since this training process promotes a research approach, what relationship exists between the investigative processes developed by nurses in continuous training and their professional practice? To what extent has the frequency of postgraduate training for nurses has indeed contributed to the professional development of nurses? Who are and what motivates the nurses to undertake continuous and continued training, at their own expense, according to an individual plan of action research and training throughout life? The education is coupled to the professional identity which leads us to wonder, what professional identities ahead are these nurses looking for?

This study aims to build knowledge about professional development of nurses provided by master's studies and their professional practice. In this respect, we intend to conduct a study with the aim of identifying the representations of students nurses regarding the impact of masters courses attended in their professional development and professional contexts in which they operate.

Cafarella, R. S. & Zinn, L. F. (1999). Professional development for faculty: a conceptual fra¬mework of barriers and supports. Innovative Higher Education, 23, 4, pp. 241 254. Fontana, A. & Frey, J. (2003). The interview: from structured questions to negociated text. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (eds.), Collecting and Interpreting Qualitative Materials. London: Sage, pp. 61 106. Morgan, D. (1998) The Focus Group Guide Book. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Nicholls, G. (2001). Professional Development in Higher Education. New Dimensions and Directions. London: Kogan Page. Pill, A. (2005). Models of professional develop¬ment in the education and practice of new tea¬chers in higher education. Teaching in Higher Education, 10, 2, pp. 175 188. Sparks, D. & Loucks Horsley, S. (1990). Models of staff development. In W. R. Houston (ed.), Handbook of Research on Teacher Education. New York: McMillan, pp. 234 251. Robertson, D. L. (1999). Professors’ perspectives on their teaching: a new construct and developmental model. Innovative Higher Education, 23, 4, pp. 271 294. Wilkerson, L. & Irby, D. (1998). Strategies for im¬proving teaching practices: a comprehensive ap¬proach to faculty development. Academic Medicine, 73, pp. 387 396.