[Organizational structure and the hospital nursing service: theoretical aspects]

This work aims at approaching some theoretical aspects related to organizational structure, focussing on the structure of the nursing service in the majority of hospitals. We found, through a literature, that some hospitals are adopting new management practices, changing rigid hierarchical structures to flexible and well coordinated ones. In this context of organizational changes, nursing needs to discuss its classical organizational structure and management still based on taylorist principles in order to fulfill actual demands and needs of clients and workers.