The Level of Professional Autonomy in Iranian Nurses
LC01-LC04
Correspondence
Mr. Mahboobeh Rasouli,
Assistant Professor, Department of Biostatics, Public Health School, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
E-mail: rasouli2007@yahoo.com
Introduction: Professional autonomy plays an important role in nurses’ job satisfaction and the outcomes of patient care. A review of literature shows the presence of nurses’ dissatisfaction in regard to their professional autonomy.
Aim: To assess the Iranian nurses’ perspectives of their professional autonomy.
Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 150 nurses with bachelor or higher academic degrees and clinical experiences participated. The professional autonomy questionnaire by Blegen MA, composed of the domains of decision-making for ward’s affairs and decision-making for patient care, were used for data collection. The data was collected from November 2015 to April 2016 and analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.
Results: The mean (SD) of professional autonomy was 152.06 (28.181). Also, the means of professional autonomy in the domains of decision-making for ward’s affairs and decision-making for patient care were 71.91 (17.687) and 80.15 (13.088), respectively. The majority of the nurses (66.7%) stated that they had high levels of professional autonomy. There were statistically significance relationships between the nurses’ age, work experience, and educational level and nurses’ professional autonomy (p<0.05).
Conclusion: The nurses had high levels of professional autonomy. Also, the nurses’ autonomy in decision-making for patient care was greater compared with decision-making in ward’s affairs. Nurses’ managers need to consider our findings for improving the condition of nurses’ autonomy in healthcare settings.