Autonomy In Nursing Essay

Autonomy refers to freedom of choice (Burkhardt et al., 2014, p. 270). Non- maleficence is defined as an act used to avoid causing harm to patients (Burkhardt et al., 2014, p. 62). When the patient decided to have abortion and the nurse had a strong opposing value against abortion, a conflicting situation raised up in regards of patient care. A nurse as a professional, could provide care to the patient who is in need and under her care irrespective of patient’s age, gender, culture or any other factors (Canadian Nurses Association, 2008, p. 17).

Autonomy is the agreement to respect another’s right to self-determine a course of action such as support of independent decision making. The patient self-determination act was passed by the United states in 1990 which stated that competent people could make their wishes known regarding how they what they wanted in the end of life if they were competent or have a power of durable power of attorney who is designated to make decision on their behalf when the individual is no longer competent (American Nurses Association, 2009).

Autonomy includes three primary conditions: (1) liberty (independence from controlling influences), (2) agency (capacity for intentional action), and (3) understanding (through informed consent) (Beauchamp & Childress, 2009, p. 100). According to Beauchamp & Childress (2009) to respect autonomous agents, one must acknowledge their right to hold views, to make choices, and to take actions based on their personal values and beliefs (p. 103). Respect for autonomy implies thaturges caregivers to respect theassist a patient in achieving? Heed? the autonomous choices of their patients. From there, patients can act intentionally and with full understanding when evaluating medical treatment modalities. Autonomy also includes a set of rules, one of which requires that providers honor patient decision-making rights by providing the truth, also known as veracity (Beauchamp & Childress, 2009, p. 103). In this case, several facets of the principle of respecting autonomy, specifically veracity, informed

To begin with the person is the centre of the plan, to be consulted with and their views must always come first: It should include all aspects of their care, and every professional should work together to provide it. (Leathard 2000) Autonomy refers to an individuals’ ability to come to his or her own decisions and requires nurses to respect the choices patients make concerning their own lives (Hendrick 2000).However Gillon Argues that the principle respect for autonomy may need some restriction, otherwise we may be morally obliged to respect an autonomous course of action with unthinkable consequences.( Gillon 1986) Every human being has an intrinsic value, they all have a right to well being, to self-fulfilment and to as much control over their own lives as is consistent with others (British Association of Social Workers 2002).Professional Judgement and patient preference cannot be suspended if practice is to be safe and effective rather than routine(DOH 2005) Alex had to attend this session as it was within his Timetable, how could it have been effective?, he was unhappy and

Autonomy is the right to make decisions for oneself and have those decisions be respected by others. This allows patients to have full knowledge and power of treatments and procedures being done to them. Along with having complete knowledge of what is going on medically with the patient, this principle enforces one to tell their patient any and all risks, benefits and alternatives to what is being suggested. This principle also allows patients to have the right to refuse treatment whenever they choose. Autonomy is one of the four main ethical principles that used when making decisions. The movie Miss Evers Boys shows numerous examples of how this very important principal was violated and swept under the

As a result, this challenges the ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence and nonmaleficence. At some point in our lives, we will be a patient in one way or another. As patients, we have the legal right to decide what’s in our best interest when it comes to the management of our health. The concept of autonomy is centered on the idea of self-governance. This means that patients have the right to play an active role in their treatment and medical care plan and have the right to receive or refuse treatment, the right to confidentiality, the right to select a healthcare proxy and the right for informed consent.

Nursing is an all encompassing profession in which practitioners are not only proficient in technical medical functionality, they also have the obligation to remain compassionate and respectful of patients and as such are expected to adhere to pre established codes of ethics. Of these ethics, autonomy is of extreme importance as it offers patients a sense of personal authority during a time where they may feel as if their lives, or at the very least their health, is no longer under their control. Autonomy in the context of nursing allocates the patient and often their family with the final word on the course of treatment. The concept of patient autonomy is a highly variable subject in all fields of health care. It is a universal concept that varies widely in its meaning and interpretation. Autonomy in its simplest form can be defined as a state of independence or self governing (Atkins, 2006). Patient autonomy can also be defined as the ability to make once own decisions, based on one’s sound judgment. It is defined by the American Nurses Association (ANA, 2011) as the "agreement to respect another 's right to self determine a course of action; support of independent decision making." This seemingly straight forward ethical concept is rife with difficulties when one considers potential disagreements that may arise even when informed consent is provided, particularly among children or vulnerable people. Relevant research and

In essence, the role played by the nurse is to increase and facilitate the self-care abilities and level of the individual patient (Smith & Parker, 2015). As such, self-care is neither reflexive nor instinctive. Instead, it is either performed rationally or intentionally in response to an already known need. Based on this Orem's theory, rational response is learned through communication and interpersonal relations. Orem asserts that self-care agency can also be defined as the power to take action (Caruso, Cisar & Pipe, 2008). It is a complex capability developed to enable maturing adolescents and adults to recognize, identify, and understand various factors to be managed or controlled so as to decide about, develop, and perform realistic care measures. The capability discussed above is strongly dependent on culture-related values and lifelong experiences.

They are commonly composed as a list to describe characteristics of the outline concept. According to Wade (1999) professional nurse autonomy “is defined as belief in the centrality of the client when making responsible discretionary decisions, both independent and interdependently, that reflect advocacy for the client” (p. 310). In this concept analysis, professional autonomy has several defining characteristics. For example, some attributes listed by Wade (1999) include "affiliative relationships with clients and responsible discretionary decision making " (p. 314). Further essential attributes such as self-regulating decisions and professional judgement are also seen in concept analyses on professional autonomy (Wilkinson, 1997, p. 704) In Walker and Avant's model, attributes give quality to the concept by examples of expression. Defining characteristics or essential attributes for professional autonomy are listed as followed: judgment calls, the use of personal knowledge, responsibility, duty to do no harm, selective interventions that are best for the patient, and independent roles and decisions as a nurse, and

Great post, I liked the way that, you have explained autonomy in your post. I think that you have made a great point that nurses are reasonable for their own profession autonomy by maintaining their license, along with, with the continuing their education throughout their practice. Thanks for sharing.

Persons who are employed in medical careers, like nursing, must display autonomous behavior because it provides motivation for them to make decisions without requiring permission from somebody (Senturan et al., 2012). On the other hand, those who display low levels of autonomous behavior will often become submissive towards others and may show signs of obedience when it comes to decision making and protecting their personal independence. These people may be coerced into performing actions or behaviors that they would not normally do such as a person who is an accomplice to a criminal act. I display high levels of autonomous behavior due to the fact that I usually set goals for myself that require no help from others and after these goals are complete, my sense of well-being has increased tremendously.

Autonomy applies to the profession of nursing because the patient should always be allowed to make decisions regarding their care while being treated with respect and dignity; however, autonomy can serve as a limiting agent when the patient decides to refuse care that would be of benefit to them. Autonomy is a sensitive issue because it allows the patient to choose to die and all health care can do from that point is allow the patient to do so comfortably. With healthcare always being one step ahead, it allows a surrogate to serve as a voice piece for that patient when they are unable to make decisions. However, that surrogate can end up making decisions they think is best for the patient ignoring the patients’ will. The responsibility of the nurse and interdisciplinary team is to inform and educate the patient and patient’s surrogate on all aspects of care to include medical diagnosis, treatment, and care plan so that the patient and

Nursing has its own entity and ethics which makes it a profession. In response to the rising health needs, the need for independent nursing is the demand of the hour. This concept are formulated and implemented in develop countries. This has helped in meeting the consumers’ demand for health benefits.

Individualized care that involves focusing all the care activities around an individual patient’s wants and needs, has been highlighted as the key element in most of the heath care policies (ETENE, 2001; Lynn & McMillen,1999). NMC (2015) also states that we should always treat the people as an individual and must uphold their rights and dignity at all times. Hence, both the Nursing and Health care ethics emphasize on the importance and value of each patient as an individual (Smith et al.,1999; Suhonen et al., 2010) as it has been reported to have produced great patient satisfactions (Suhonen et al., 2008a). Since providing individualized care is critical in achieving the effective patient care, it is vital to understand its meaning, concepts and principles behind it and how it can be implemented in the real nursing practices in various ways.

My nursing philosophy is for every patient to be as independent as they were before they came to me or at least to where they can function closely to what they were doing before. I like teaching patients independence because if the patient does not remain active or able to bathe themselves or feed themselves, the muscles lose memory and becomes more and more difficult for the patient to care for themselves. My philosophy is closely related to Virginia Henderson and Dorothea Orem because they promote self-care and patient independence. The most important roles for providing care are person, environment, nursing, and health. I define person as someone who is seeking care or family seeking care of a health care provider. Environment affects the person by determining how they will recover, what they do on a daily basis, and how the past, present, and future have and will affect their health. Their environment includes their family and friends because they will most likely be influenced by the opinions of family or friends. The nurse is the one working with the person to determine the best way to provide care based on the person and their environment. The nurse is a support for the patient to become independent as they grow healthier. Health ties everything together; it is determined by the person and their environment and how the nurse will improve it. Health should be the goal for everyone in the care team and the family and friends of the patient to encourage independence. My