title: Autonomy of primary nurses: the need to both facilitate and limit autonomy in practice.
abstract: This paper explores the concept and implications of autonomy in relation to primary nurses. It explores the need to limit this autonomy to ensure assigned patients receive a consistent and congruent quality of care. Methods that enable primary nurses to demonstrate their pluralistic accountability, currently being used and tested in practice, are described, methods that limit the autonomy of primary nurses without compromising it.
authors.affiliation: Burford Nursing Development Unit, Burford Community Hospital, Oxfordshire.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Johns
mesh_terms: D006808:Humanism; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D007587:Job Description; D009732:Nursing Care / Q000592:standards; D009745:Nursing, Supervisory; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010379:Peer Group; D011321:Primary Nursing / Q000379:methods*; D011364:Professional Practice / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D011787:Quality of Health Care