How much autonomy do nurses have??

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Hi. Can you all tell me how much autonomy do nurses have??

Regular RN's?? NP's? Do they get to make decisions about the patient on their own OR are they just "pill pushers" just following the docs. orders?? No offense here, but how much autonomy do you have as a nurse in making real decisions that impact the patient; besides "caring" for the patient-- baths, pills, cleaning up, IV's, etc... Do you just follow orders OR make the decisions ourselves??? What about interpreting labs?? Tests?? Can you offer advice to the patients?? Or is all that up to the docs.?? Do the nurses just do the "caring" part?? That is important no doubt about it, but I am curious as to what else we can do... thank you.. E :o

Specializes in Emergency.

I have worked in an ER for 34 years; and the physicians are most appreciative of any suggestions we as nurses can offer. I find that the nursing staff are highly respected. Some of the physicians even seek some of the more experienced staff out to get their views on what the care should include.

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Specializes in ICU,ER.
A note about autonomy: Who really does work alone? No matter what profession or career you choose you will need to get along and take orders, advice, information, and instructions from a whole lot of other people. Every job has it's redundancies, so you will just have to decide what your level of tolerance is.

excellent point

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