Practicing autonomously: a comparison of nurses.

Forty-five subjects including community health nurses with baccalaureate nursing degrees, senior-level generic nursing students, and registered nurses in a baccalaureate nursing program were compared on age, years of employment in nursing, and three variables 6f professional autonomy: nurses’ rights and responsibilities, the nurse-patient relationship, and nurses’ role in health care delivey. It was predicted that nurses from baccalaureate programs and those practicing in community health nursing would perceive themselves as more autonomous and that age and years of employment in nursing would not appreciably alter perceptions of autonomy. An analysis of variance confirmed the initial prediction at the 0.01 level of significance or better for nurses’ rights and responsibilities and their role in health care delivey. A significant negative correlation was obtained between age and nurses’ rights and responsibilities for the community health nurses; a significant positive correlation was obtained between years of work experience and nurses’ rights and responsibilities for only the registered nurses. This study is perceived as an initial step in a lengthy process aimed at identifying factors that influence nurses’ perceptions about profes-