Concept analysis of nursing care management in the hospital context

To analyze the concept of nursing care management in the hospital context on the basis of the theoretical-methodological framework of Walker and Avant. Elaboration of an integrative review to operationalize the analysis of the subject, extracting data from the databases Latin America and Caribbean Center on Health Sciences Information, Scientific Eletronic Library Online and the Brazilian Nursing Database, using the keywords and descriptors Care Management, Nursing and Hospital. The review showed that management practice by nurses focuses on bureaucratic activities and has little relationship to care. However, coordination and integration of administration and care, leadership, communication, interaction, decision-making and cooperation were identified as essential characteristics of nursing care management. The application of this concept in nursing care management is an emerging need for the development of an administration model related to care.