Autonomy isn’t just about convenience—it’s about survival when the system’s too stretched to care. I’ve held patients who fell through every crack because someone decided it was cheaper to close the ward than staff it. When the ambulances queue for twelve hours because there’s no space, when the psych team doesn’t come because they’re covering three counties—autonomy means not having to beg for mercy from a machine that only speaks budget. We need systems that act before the crash, not after. Human oversight? Fine. But don’t pretend it’s working when it’s just another form that gets filled out post-mortem. The goal isn’t to replace us. It’s to stop asking nurses to be miracle workers with empty hands.
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