Nurse leadership practices during the Covid-19 pandemic in university hospitals.

Objective: to analyze the leadership practices among nurses in face of COVID-19 pandemic in university hospitals in Brazil.

Method: this is a multicenter, qualitative and exploratory-descriptive research. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 139 nurses who worked in the care for patients with COVID-19 in Brazilian university hospitals. Thematic content analysis was carried out with support of Iramuteq® software.

Results: Three categories were obtained: 1) Leadership practices with individual emphasis, highlighting decision-making agility and technical-scientific knowledge as relevant elements for professional performance; 2) Leadership practices with emphasis on the team and direct care for critical patients, presents the challenges faced in managing human resources amidst a high number of infections and professional absences; and 3) Leadership practices with emphasis on Safety and material management, presenting strategies to enhance patient and professional safety despite difficulties related to the supply of materials.

Conclusion: leadership practices such as adaptive capacity, transmission of trust in the leader, collaborative decision-making, encouraging team development, management of human and material resources, and effective communication allowed nurses to cope with the critical moments of the pandemic.