[Panorama of the Nursing Models used by Chief Nursing Officers in bilingual and French speaking Belgian hospitals.]

The use of a Nursing Model (NM) for nursing administration offers direct and indirect benefits for patients as for nurses. Depending the chosen NM, the concepts of person, health, nursing and environment are very different. Each NM has its special vision of the practice of nursing. The study investigated whether the Chief Nursing Officers (CNO) of the bilingual and French speaking Belgian hospitals integrate Nursing Models in the politics of their department. A quantitative descriptive and correlational survey was conducted. 97.5 % of the concerned CNO (78/80) participated to the research. It appears that a Nursing Model underlies the action of the nursing department in only 38 % of the departments (30/78). Where a Nursing Model is used, it is explicitly communicated to staff (26/30). Among the Models used, that of Virginia Henderson dominates (26/30). The seniority of the CNO in its function as well as variables related to educational courses and clinical context appear to influence the results. The Nursing Models of the paradigm of transformation remain rarely used. A qualitative research would be relevant to deepen the understanding of the experience of CNO related to Nursing Models.