Nurses' management in the clinical practice: problems and challenges in search of competence

With the purpose to enable reflections concerning nurses' managerial performance in hospitalization units, three studies conducted in three different decades, in the same university hospital, were analyzed. From this analysis, it was observed that nurses' managerial practice has been mainly characterized by the accentuated compliance to pre-established norms, thus showing a reiterative praxis. Understanding the fragility of this managerial situation in terms of involvement with and commitment to clients and service givers, an alternative managerial conduct, which is based on the creative praxis, is presented to nurses.