Abstract: Objective: To investigate the leadership status of the nurse managers among the secondary and tertiary hospitals in Zhejiang province. Methods: The Nurse Managers' Leadership Assessment Questionnaire (NMLAQ) was performed. Totally 2 226 nurse managers from 11 regions of Zhejiang province were investigated. Results: The total score of NMLAQ was 186.12±35.90. The highest score among the dimensions was the decisiveness (4.33±0.82), while the lowest score was prospective (4.09±0.95). There was no significant difference of the total score of NMLAQ between the different demographic characteristics (P>0.05), but there were significant differences in the prospective dimension among nurses' marriage status, professional title, departments and length of service (P<0.05) respectively. Conclusion: The nursing department can provide various training programs to prospective nursing managers to improve their leadership capabilities.

Key words: nurse manager; leadership