Importance Of Autonomy In Nursing
Attributes of Autonomy
Self-governance is an important attribute of autonomy and it encompasses the method of laws and principles. “It is the right to keep control over self, make decisions as to one’s profession” (Dayani, 1990). Other significant attributes include caring, affiliative relationship with patients, decision making, both independently and interdependently, that reflect proactive advocacy for the patient (wade, 1999). Added attributes comprise the professional practice context, capacity for clinical judgment, authority to make patient care decision and interdisciplinary collaborative practice (Fitzpatrick & McCarthy, 2016).
Antecedents of Autonomy
The educational status and the personal attributes prior to exhibiting autonomy …show more content…
This is a lifelong lesson from which I made a promise to myself to never give up my autonomy in my practice. This was an elderly patient in her late 70's, non-verbal. with a diagnosis of IV breast cancer. This patient lay in bed without uttering a sound, nurses will do her wound care without given her pain medication and I kept thinking to myself why is she not being medicated for pain? It was sad to watch this poor woman go through such ordeal. The situation really bothered me and I brought it to the preceptor attention. This nurse told me the patient does not feel pain. I was shocked because looking at the patient's breast there is no way to assume that she did not feel pain. The patient has been in the nursing home for almost a year and did not have a single order for pain medication other than the standard order of Tylenol for every patient admitted to the nursing home. I watched in agony every day for months feeling frustrated and powerless. I was in fear of losing my job and did not want to create conflict. Since I was new on the job, I felt I did not have the authority to do anything. I do not want to be religious, but God answered my prayer and the nursing home was cited by the state surveyor for not providing adequate care to the patient. The main reason cited was no plan of care for pain management. It was at this time, the patient was ordered pain medication and had a comprehensive plan of care for pain
Self-governance is an important attribute of autonomy and it encompasses the method of laws and principles. “It is the right to keep control over self, make decisions as to one’s profession” (Dayani, 1990). Other significant attributes include caring, affiliative relationship with patients, decision making, both independently and interdependently, that reflect proactive advocacy for the patient (wade, 1999). Added attributes comprise the professional practice context, capacity for clinical judgment, authority to make patient care decision and interdisciplinary collaborative practice (Fitzpatrick & McCarthy, 2016).
Antecedents of Autonomy
The educational status and the personal attributes prior to exhibiting autonomy …show more content…
This is a lifelong lesson from which I made a promise to myself to never give up my autonomy in my practice. This was an elderly patient in her late 70's, non-verbal. with a diagnosis of IV breast cancer. This patient lay in bed without uttering a sound, nurses will do her wound care without given her pain medication and I kept thinking to myself why is she not being medicated for pain? It was sad to watch this poor woman go through such ordeal. The situation really bothered me and I brought it to the preceptor attention. This nurse told me the patient does not feel pain. I was shocked because looking at the patient's breast there is no way to assume that she did not feel pain. The patient has been in the nursing home for almost a year and did not have a single order for pain medication other than the standard order of Tylenol for every patient admitted to the nursing home. I watched in agony every day for months feeling frustrated and powerless. I was in fear of losing my job and did not want to create conflict. Since I was new on the job, I felt I did not have the authority to do anything. I do not want to be religious, but God answered my prayer and the nursing home was cited by the state surveyor for not providing adequate care to the patient. The main reason cited was no plan of care for pain management. It was at this time, the patient was ordered pain medication and had a comprehensive plan of care for pain