OBJECTIVE: To learn how nurses perceive their professional activity and what are their expectations concerning the development of comprehensive care management. METHODS: Qualitative research with Alfred Schütz's social phenomenology approach. The participants were nine female nurses who worked at public and private hospitals in Montevideo, Uruguay. RESULTS: The nurses experience the gap between theory and practice, administrative overload, insecurity to take over care management and pursuit of formal and informal knowledge; they show desires and specific definitions, autonomy and professional identity, and professional valuation. CONCLUSION: The nurses perceive their professional activity as having a gap between theory and practice, administrative overload, insecurity to take over care management and pursuit of formal and informal knowledge, with expectations and desires of recovery and definitions of specific duties, autonomy and professional identity
Nursing care; Health management; Qualitative research; Legislation, nursing; Workload