Grænser for professionel autoritet i mødet mellem sundhedsprofessionelle og patienter/klienter.

Limitations of Professional Authority in Health Professions’ Meeting with Patients/clients. In this article it is shown how three different groups of health professionals relate to the fact that the autonomy of the professional is challenged when meeting patients/clients. The assumption is that the health professionals by their very nature possess authority in the meaning credibilityand impact in the relation with the patient/client. However, managing own work and consequently the professional autonomy is put under pressure. Seven focus group interviews attending to social workers’, midwives’ and nurses’ experiences with patient/client relations have been conducted. By contrasting the different health professionals it has been possible to enlighten how national directives, the organization of labor and – not least – the patients’ and their relatives’ demands of defining health care benefits challenge the professional authority.These challenges might make us rethink the role of the professions in a more functionalistic perspective at a time where more insecurities are at stake.