It is written in the description of competence for the Swedish nurses that the nurse should protect and respect the patients autonomy, integrity and dignity. Does today’s nurses really know what it means and do they know how to achieve this? What does todays nurses think autonomy involves? The purpose with this study was to illuminate nurse’s perception of the concept autonomy with how the patient’s integrity and dignity manifests in the healthcare. The data collection took place in form of qualitative interviews with seven registered nurses on the selected wards. The result showed that autonomy, integrity and dignity should be teached, educated, and repeated during the nurse’s career because then the nurse can preserve her competence about these concepts.