[Should nurses be managed by doctors or nurses?]

A recent verdict of the administrative court of Lazio Region abrogated a Decree that originally stated that nurse managers (and not the head of the medical department) should be responsible for the management of the nursing personnel, and that had set up the premises for the Nursing Departments. The verdict contrasts with a previous pronouncement of the same court (same members, same president) that supported the wards organized by intensity of care and run by nurses. The organization should be flexible and be shaped not by power struggles but by patients needs: while patients in acute care require mostly medical interventions, chronic patients require more educational and nursing interventions. The verdict is the occasion for reflections on the never ending contrasts between doctors and nurse, that often move to the background patients' priorities and care.