Management performed by nurses in hospitals: comparative study between public and private contexts

Abstract

Objective: Relate the process of managerial work performed by nurses-managers between a public and private hospital. METHODS: It is a descriptive and comparative research of qualitative approach, having as participants nurses that assume managerial functions in these organizations, totaling ten nurses-managers, five in each hospital. Semi-structured interviews were conducted based on the managerial process and to identify the hierarchical organization of each institution. RESULTS: For organization of results, according to the technique of thematic analysis, speeches were separated into three categories: (i) hospital Management: hierarchical flow and the active participation of those involved in the process; (ii) obstacles management in nursing and their positive reflections: faults and support for management training and (iii) manage hospital attention: administrative reflections and the process studied. The public hospital nurses reported a lack of organization charts, professionals and the little logistical support for realization of management practice. In the private hospital, the management process is organized and respects the proposed hierarchical flow, however, features mostly low-skill professionals due to rotation of jobs. FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: The study showed that the private hospital managers were more involved and with greater affinity to administrative matters, to the alignment of objectives for the organization, with a focus on efficiency. In this regard, the public hospital, the absence of these features, so these are difficult to trace and achieve goals, targets and implement their action plans. Therefore, the form of work of these nurses is based on demand management.