Matron is the job title of a very senior or the chief nurse in several countries, including the United Kingdom, and other Commonwealth countries and former colonies. Etymology The chief nurse, in other words the person in charge of nursing in a hospital and the head of the nursing staff, is also known as the Chief Nursing officer or Chief Nursing Executive, senior nursing officer, matron, nursing officer, or clinical nurse manager in UK English; the head nurse or director of nursing in US English, and the nursing superintendent or matron in Indian English, among other countries in the Commonwealth of Nations. In the United Kingdom, matrons today "have powers over budgets, catering and cleaning as well as being in charge of nurses and doctors" and "have the powers to withhold payments from catering and cleaning services if they don't think they are giving the best service to the NHS." Historically, matrons supervised the hospital as a whole but today, they are in-charge of supervising two or three wards. The chief nurse is a registered nurse who supervises the care of all the patients at a health care facility. The chief nurse is the senior nursing management position in an organization and often holds executive titles like chief nursing officer (CNO), chief nurse executive, or vice-president of nursing. They typically report to the CEO or COO. In the United States a matron is not a nurse, but a female assistant to males running a residential facility, like a camp, boarding school, or prison (see Other uses, below). The word "matron" is derived from the Latin for "mother", via French. History The matron was once the most senior nurse in a hospital (in the United Kingdom before 1972). They were responsible for all the nurses and domestic staff, overseeing all patient care, and the efficient running of the hospital, although she almost never had real power over the strategic running of the hospital. Matrons were almost invariably female—male nurses were not at all common, especially in senior positions. They were often seen as fearsome administrators, but were respected by nurses and doctors alike. Matrons also worked in boarding schools in the UK from the 1950s to 1990s, they acted to same way with the students as they did with nurses with one exception, they had to assign chores to students by the Headteacher when they misbehaved as a punishment such as