Status Versus Authority
Issues of power and authority are very complex in the nursing profession. The concept of power in nursing depends on the profession and the roles that the professionals play to achieve the nursing outcomes (Sepasi, Abbaszadeh, Borhani, & Rafiei, 2016). As such, power and authority go hand in hand. Authority describes the right and ability of an individual to exercise their power over others through supervision and management. On the other hand, status denotes one’s professional or social position. Both status and authority are associated with respect from others for the roles and responsibilities held. In my view, equating status with authority may be confusing at times.
I find that equating status with authority could be confusing at times because some people with status in their professions or society may not have the right to utilize their power to demonstrate authority. For instance, nurses are respected, and trusted professionals in the community, and society views them with a level of status. At the same time, the nurses lack the authority to make critical decisions in healthcare compared to physicians and other nurse leaders, who may not be trusted by the community. The community identifies with the nurses’ status as caring and nurturing, which ensures that the people accord the nurses respect despite their reduced powers in healthcare settings. On the other hand, the physicians and nurse leaders who hold more powers in clinical settings may not be trusted or viewed with the same level of status as the nurses since the people may not understand their roles or the differences from the nurses. As such, equating status with authority would mean that all the clinicians (doctors, nurses, and nurse leaders) are equal in status and authority, which may not be the case in healthcare.
References
Sepasi, R. R., Abbaszadeh, A., Borhani, F., & Rafiei, H. (2016). Nurses’ perceptions of the concept of power in nursing: a qualitative research. Journal of clinical and diagnostic research: JCDR, 10(12), LC10. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5296459/pdf/jcdr-10-LC10.pdf