Abstract

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. Nurse's managers need to consider our findings for improving the condition of nurses' autonomy in healthcare settings.