護理長在現代的醫院中，扮演著關鍵的角色。然而在不一樣的時空裡，護理畏被賦予不一樣的任務。本研究的目的在了解臺灣北區某醫學中心，護理長的角色功能與其相關因素之探討。本研究採橫斷式描述性調查研究，以臺灣北區某醫學中心，護理長或代理護理長業務之副護理長為對象，採取普查，共得90位研究樣本。研究工具為自擬式結構問卷，採專家效度及內在一致性信度(Cronbach'sOt值 ．979)。本研究將護理長的角色功能分為管理角色及專業角色。管理角色的工作內容包含人力資源管理、人際溝通、財務管理、環境與物料管理，及行銷與策略規劃。專業角色的工作內容包含了護理服務，照護相關事務，護理研究，及教育訓練。研究結果顯示，護理長在每日工作中，在管理角色方面，頻率由高至低分別是財務管理，人際溝通，環境及物料管理，人力資源管理，及行銷與策略規劃；在專業角色的工作頻率，依序為護理服務，教育訓練，照護相關事務，及護理研究。整體護理工作年資越久的護理長，尤其工作20年以上者，在人際溝通的頻率最高。獲得碩士學歷的護理長，護理研究這一項的工作頻率最高。而在加護單位的護理長，在專業角色的工作頻率，高於在其他單位工作的護理長。研究結果顯示，西元2001年某醫學中心護理長角色功能，與文獻回顧裡的不同；從以前著重在專業角色，而現為管理角色與專業角色一樣重要的局面。

　　　　　Head nurses play a pivotal role in medical centers and are expected to perform different tasks in different ages. It is important to understand how head nurses evaluate their performance under such working conditions. The purposes of this study were to investigate the frequency toward the job contents among clinical head nurses at a medical center located in northern Taiwan. The investigations covered the frequency of head nurses' daily performance contents, and head nurses with different working units, educational background, and working experiences were examined. The design of this study was cross-sectional with a sample of 90 head nurses working in a medical center. A self-developed constructed questionnaire was employed in this study. The performances of a head nurse included two parts: the managerial role, which includes human resource management, finance management, communication, supplies and environment management and strategy planning. The other one is the professional role, which include nursing service, medical assistant behavior, training and education, and nursing research. The research results concluded that head nurses at medical centers often perform both managerial roles and professional roles within their daily work.