Not Convinced Nursing is an Autonomous Profession

Nurses General Nursing

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I'm not trying to stir up a war. I realize I've just started a thread on a very controversial topic here. But I'm simply not convinced nurses have much autonomy. There are some aspects of nursing that appear independent, such as how nurses are governed by other nurses in terms of licenses, credentialing, certifying colleges, etc, but in the clinical setting, you do what the physician says. You can't giving a patient watered down nasal spray without a physician order. Catheterizing, wound dressing, dress removal, aside from taking vitals, recording the information, and advocating for the patient, you can't do anything a physician hasn't ordered in terms of providing care.

I understand I'm still young, and there are things about nursing I don't understand fully, so if you're willing to kindly explain how nurses can be considered autonomous health care providers, I'm more than willing to consider what you tell me.

There really aren't any truly autonomous professions. I'm a lawyer and I can't organize a business in any way I want unless the laws of the state or regulating body say I can. One must always answer to someone.

There really aren't any truly autonomous professions. I'm a lawyer and I can't organize a business in any way I want unless the laws of the state or regulating body say I can. One must always answer to someone.

Very true. There's always a higher up authority.

I would still classify nursing as an autonomous profession though. My point was that every profession has to integrate input from various fields in order to function.

Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

To the OP: please click on the weblink below to read another thread that had been previously established on the issue of nurses and autonomy. The different opinions listed in the thread might be enlightening.

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/where-did-our-263059.html

I understand all of the yada yada about nursing diagnoses, etc., but really, without standing orders from the provider, I can't do much more than raise the head of the bed and take vitals without permission.

It is not, imo, autonomous until one gets to the midlevel practitioner level.

I believe nursing is an autonomous profession within our scope of practice.

Check out this link!

http://www.nursingadvocacy.org/faq/autonomy.html

Here is an excerpt from the link. It really is a great article IMHO.

To some extent this may depend on how you define autonomy--if it means having just as much power as physicians, or the legal and practical rights to do everything physicians do, such as prescribe narcotics, then nurses obviously do not have autonomy. However, in our view that would be an unduly narrow and physician-centric way to define autonomy, one that reflects the assumption that what physicians do is the most important part of health care. Nurses can't practice medicine, but neither can physicians practice nursing. If you're snickering, we suggest you examine your own understanding of and respect for what nurses do.

Specializes in ER.
There really aren't any truly autonomous professions. I'm a lawyer and I can't organize a business in any way I want unless the laws of the state or regulating body say I can. One must always answer to someone.

totally off topic, but what's a lawyer doing on a nursing website? Are you a healthcare attorney?? Totally off topic, but I'm curious.

Nope, I am an attorney in nursing school.

I have spent my career in psych, and v. little that I do on an inpatient psychiatric unit depends on physician orders -- I'm trying to think of anything besides medications that is ordered by the physician, and giving meds is a v. small part of a typical day.

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Some aspects of nursing practice are independent ... some are not ... many are somewhere in between. It's also true that some nurses take on more responsiblity and practice more autonomously than others.

Specializes in Long Term Care, Pediatrics.

I've always thought of the autonomy of nurses as relating to not what you want to do but in the right to refuse to do something that has been ordered, but you believe is unsafe, like refusing to give a med the patient is allergic to.

Also, the nursing process is somewhat automous; assessment, diagnosis, ect.

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