Are Nurses Really Autonomous

[namzy]

Hello all users of this site,

I would like to seek your views on the above topic.I understand a registered nurse is descrabed as autonomous(under characteristics of a registered nurse).Do you really exercise this property in your country.Iam in africa and a student at a nursing school male by sex,I have been on several clinical placements for close to three years.but I feel this is not implemented,get me right iam not trying to underestimate our medical counterparts but to know how you operate in other countries.Remember to be autonomous you need to have knowledge and skills for whatever you what to carry out.

Thank you.

[nyapa, RN]

To be autonomous I think you would have the ability and qualification to work independently of everyone else. A nurse makes her/his own decisions based on assessment. Even if a doctor wants a staff member to do something that is contrary to what the nurse views ias safe practice, the latter has the right to object or even refuse to carry out the treatment. For example, an incorrect medication order.

But, generally, the nurse has to work as part of a health team. But so do other health workers, including doctors. They cannot carry out care without nurses caring for their inpatients 24 hours a day. They rely on nursing assessment. They rely on pathology and radiology results collected by path staff or nurses. Nobody within the health system is totally autonomous. Even doctors in the community have to rely on the allied health staff.

And don't forget the patient. Nobody can care for them properly without their input. No patient, no nursing, no 'doctoring'.