Nursing management: a discussion in the light of the ideas of Humberto Maturana

uma reflexão à luz das idéias de Humberto Maturana

Abstract

We live at a time when intense changes in society demand the redirection of many concepts and practices, especially given that we are in a time of modern reflection. This attitude of review is necessary in management, questioning the foundations, especially considering the need to be sensitive to the role of emotions. Nursing, as a field of knowledge and practice that involves elements of administration, must also reflect on the importance of including emotion in its practice. Therefore, this text reflects on nursing management, seeking to raise issues that make it possible to value, in the light of nursing literature, emotions in the daily routine, as a way of contextualizing and historically placing administrative and management practice in nursing, leveraging points for reflection and discussion based mainly in the thinking of Humberto Maturana. Examining the background of the evolution of teaching and management practice in nursing, we find that bureaucracy, discipline and technical-instrumental rationality predominate. Therefore, including emotion as the foundation of reason, according to Humberto Maturana, is indispensable to contribute to build ethical relationships suitable for a nurse with ethical, political and relational competence.