Professional Autonomy of Nurses: A Qualitative Meta‑Synthesis Study

Autonomy is the main element of professional practice in nursing. However, despite themany studies conducted on nursing autonomy, this concept is not fully understood and a comprehensiveexplanation of this concept in nursing is necessary. Meta‑synthesis offers a way to increase theunderstanding of this concept using existing research findings. Thus, the present study aimed toexplain the concept of professional nursing autonomy.

This qualitativemeta‑synthesis was conducted based on a modified version of Noblit and Hare’s meta‑ethnographyapproach and qualitative studies on the concept of nursing autonomy published in databases suchas PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane, SID, IranMedex, Magiran, and ScienceDirect inthe past 15 years (2003–2018).

Thirteen articles that reported the experiences of nursesregarding professional autonomy were included in the research. Based on the meta‑synthesis offindings, the final interpretation of the professional autonomy of clinical nurses was presented in thethree themes of professional competence, professional decision making, and professional interactions.

According to the results, the concept of professional autonomy is a developmentalachievement based on patient‑based professional competence along with self‑reliance to provide thebest care plan for the promotion of patients’ health through the professional decision making andprofessional interactions with other professional team members.