An evaluation of nurses’ professional autonomy in Turkey

Abstract

The development of a profession's autonomy closely relates to that profession's level of autonomy in performing its specific role. For the nursing profession, this key role is nursing care. This study was undertaken to evaluate the professional autonomy of nurses in care provision, from an ethical perspective. A mixed methods approach is employed in this research, which makes use of both quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative dimension of this research covers sociodemographic aspects and makes use of the Sociotropy-Autonomy Scale. The qualitative dimension of the research relates to the factors that affect professional autonomy in nursing care. The sample consisted of 30 nurses working in the orthopedics, neurology, or intensive care units of three hospitals. Before conducting this research, we received permission from the ethical committee, as well as written permits from all the institutions in which the research was carried out. Informed consent was obtained from all participants. According to the findings of this study, only 6.7% of the nurses surveyed stated that nurses had professional autonomy; they also stated that professional autonomy in nursing was mostly restricted by the need to be "dependent upon the physician in nursing implementations" and that autonomy in nursing care was mostly limited by a "high number of patients per nurse." This study determined that delays in resolving problems with regard to professional autonomy in nursing care in Turkey could be creating many of the professional and ethical problems that nurses face there. It is recommended that: individuals choose the nursing profession conscientiously; nurses need to be given professional awareness; their professional organizations need to be strengthened; and plans need to be made to increase research and to accumulate both knowledge and expertise.