Chronic hospital bed shortages and compromised patient care has
dominated the media over the past decade. Restructure and change
are the catch cries for the survival of a quality public health system.
The majority of existing Australian research has focussed on the
impact of hospital restructures and retrenchment from the
perspectives of the non-professional staff such as cleaners and
kitchen hands. This research investigates the perceptions of middle
management nurses in a major Victorian hospital. Unlike other
managerial survivors of restructuring, this research reveals that this
group of nurse managers have remained committed to their
vocation and their workplace, despite the unrelenting pressures they
have endured.