Brazilian hospitals experience a remarkable rationalization process of its practices in the quest for greater efficiency and organizational effectiveness. Considering the existence of a dual system of authorities composed by both medical and administrative powers, the present study aims to understand how medical experience and assign meaning to the rationalizing policies of the hospital management implemented by one hospital management board of the State Health Department of São Paulo. By documentary analysis and interviews, this research showed an apparent paradox between the advances of the organizational mechanisms of control over medical work and the perception of such advancements by the physicians.
Hospital administration; Accreditation; Professional autonomy; Hospital-physician relations; Medical staff, hospital