Which nursing specialty has the most autonomy/independence? Apart from nursing practioner

CamillusRN, BSN · Feb 9, 2015

Depends on your facility, level of expertise, rapport with the physician, etc, etc. No real good answer to that question, except maybe critical care transport and rural nursing. But those have their own nuances so refer to the above.

Eclectic Swain · Feb 9, 2015

I have a retired CRNA in my Theater class and she said that a CRNA could attain a high level of autonomy. Not a list of 5 but I am still a pre-req student and don't know enough Hope this helped!

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Feb 9, 2015

If you're looking for environments with less "team" interaction needed, It would probably be in areas with a fairly homogenous patient population where you can work based upon protocols. Home Care & Occ health come to mind. They are solo in the patient home or work setting. Nurses in admin/support roles such as case management, medical-legal, etc... work pretty independently.

In a more sophisticated, complex environment no one works solo. It takes all hands on deck just to keep everything floating along.

Zyrv · Feb 10, 2015

Depends on your facility, level of expertise, rapport with the physician, etc, etc. No real good answer to that question, except maybe critical care transport and rural nursing. But those have their own nuances so refer to the above.

Haha i can definitely picture rural based nurses with a lot of autonomy.

Zyrv · Feb 10, 2015

I have a retired CRNA in my Theater class and she said that a CRNA could attain a high level of autonomy. Not a list of 5 but I am still a pre-req student and don't know enough Hope this helped!

Yeah, they should have a list available somewhere online. It's unfortunate. Goodluck!

SassyTachyRN · Feb 10, 2015

School nursing. I'm the only healthcare professional covering multiple buildings, tons of autonomy and decision making skills on my own.

thenightnurse456 · Feb 10, 2015

Rural nurses for sure! When your in the middle of no where and the closest doctor is a plane flight away you'd be surprised how autonomous nurses can be!

Other then that I'd say flight/critical transport nurses.

When I worked ICU I used to think I was very autonomous, but it's mostly protocols and algorithms that I'm working with...

Libby1987 · Feb 10, 2015

Home health actually gets a little isolating, I make my own schedule, and develop my own relationships with providers and ancillary resources.

RNewbie · Feb 10, 2015

I would think specialties with protocols in place are the most autonomous. For instance: ICU and dialysis are two that stand out to me. I worked in clinical research for a while and it was very autonomous because there were protocols.

SpEdtacular, MSN, RN, EMT-P · Feb 11, 2015

I have heard that corrections nurses are very independent but don't know from experience. ICU nurses are fairly independent but in the hospital in general I think it depends a lot on the docs you're working

PMFB-RN, RN · Feb 11, 2015

Not counting advanced practice nurses. Among regular RNs

1) Transport (ground and air ambulanced, usually critical care transport, mobile intensive care (my last job).

2) Rapid Response (my current job) among those hospitals that have a full time RRT RN.

3) Rural, critical access hospital ER RN. (My past job). I used to work at a tiny 12 bed very rural hospital. Sometimes we didn't even have a provider in the building as some of the family docs took ER call from their home just down the block. On many nights I was the only RN in the building, with a total staff of maybe 2 and a doctor oncall. In my state rural ER RNs can become licensed as limited use x-ray techs. Sometimes I acted as the RN, the MD (for a little while) , respiratory therapist, rad tech, ambulance paramedic, bouncer, and other things I can't think of right now.

4) SICU - (my past job) very dependant on the hospital, can be very high, or not so much.

5) MICU - Same as SICU.