This study aimed to identify current and future (over the next five years) tendencies of the role of the auditor nurse in the labor market. The research was methodologically structured using the Delphi technique, through two rounds, with a total participation of 34 nurses from Brazilian health care and teaching institutions. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The results provide evidence that nursing auditing is currently focused on bureaucratic aspects such as accounting and finance, thus meeting the demands of health care institutions. Regarding the future, a projection for change is reported in order to incorporate health care quality assessment. At present, professionals act according to retrospective internal methods, dealing with the stages of collecting and analyzing the payment of bills. As nursing auditing incorporates quality assessment into its practices, as is the projected tendency for the next five years, the methods used will add different means to sustain the new reality.
Nursing audit; Economics; Quality of health care
