Published
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 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.
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.
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.
Inspired By Silence
158 Posts
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.