? A new career structure for clinical nurses was implemented in 1987 in Victoria with the intention of providing clinical advancement and material rewards for nurses in clinical settings.
? This paper explains how participatory action research was used to explore some of the issues inherent in the role of the associate charge nurse.
? The clinical/management tension and the role expectations formed within the taken-for-granted rituals and routines of the ward and the hospital managerial structure are examined.