The purpose of this study was to gain consensus on a definition of Nurse-Managed Centers. To accomplish this task, Delphi survey methods were used with the participants of the Second Biennial Conference on Nurse-Managed Centers. Delphi methods entail obtaining autonomous consensus from experts through rounds of questionnaires and feedback of results. A questionnaire was developed that included 22 items obtained from the literature, past conferences, and the expertise of the authors. An additional 6 items were suggested by the conferees. Of the 168 conferees, 148 participated in the first round, 147 in the second, and 133 in the third. Fifty-three percent of the respondents were educators, 22% administrators, and 11% clinicians. More than 75% of the respondents were masters prepared. After the third round, the highest-ranked items indicated that NMCs should provide direct access for clients to professional nursing, be part of a strong referral network, base services on client participation, and provide holistic treatment. A definition was formulated and associations between ranked items and selected demographic characteristics were analyzed
