The present paper results from group works carried by nurses during their formal education in the process of supervision, taught by the authors as members of the Center of Clinical Practice of the Higher Education in Health at the University of Aveiro, Portugal. Its objectives are to deepen knowledge concerning this theme, to identify the purpose of the strategies that are used, and to which to give more emphasis. The data collection was carried out through the narration of significant episodes by 20 cooperative supervising nurses in the period of January to February of 2005. An exploratory study of a qualitative nature was developed. The study verified that the nurses, while supervisors in clinical practice, use supervising strategies with the purpose of paying attention, clarifying, encouraging, serving as a mirror, giving opinions, helping to find solutions for problems, negotiating, guiding, establishing criteria, and to condition. Through the analysis of the results, we conclude that the supervisors' strategies approach a non-directive profile.
Nursing; Teaching; Strategies; Narration
