[The philosophy of nursing management: a conceptual analysis]

This is a conceptual article about philosophy. The author aims to provide nursing professionals, both academic and clinical, with a point of reference covering nursing, management and philosophy, which it is hoped, will contribute to improvements in both academic and clinical nursing. The specific approach adopted is the dualistic perspective of philosophy of nursing and philosophy of management, searching for opportunities to communicate with nursing management, and, further, the possibility of establishing a philosophy of nursing management. The author argues that the most appropriate orientation for nursing management is that of a form of nonprofit organization management, and an indispensable element of health care management. If a medical institution can transcend public sector and private sector management models and adopt a nonprofit organization, management model, it could succeed in integrating the caring ideal of nursing with a humanistic organizational spirit. This would be beneficial to all parties with a stake in the effective provision of nursing care.