Premium
Observations, confirmations and strategies – useful tools in decision‐making process for nurses in practice?
Author(s) -
Hedberg Berith,
Sätterlund Larsson Ullabeth
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of clinical nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.94
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1365-2702
pISSN - 0962-1067
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2702.2003.00703.x
Subject(s) - nursing , psychology , action (physics) , data collection , nursing process , clinical decision making , process (computing) , nursing care , nursing practice , surgical nursing , medicine , nurse education , primary nursing , family medicine , computer science , statistics , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics , operating system
Summary • The aim of the study was to describe how nurses make decisions on measures in clinical practice. • The data‐collection method consisted of audio‐taped interviews with six nurses. The interviews were then transcribed verbatim. The questions in the interviews were based on nursing situations observed earlier when the nurses initiated and implemented patient‐related measures and the focus was on the nurses' experience of decision making. A content analysis was performed. • The results show that the nurses' decisions on measures were based on three themes: observation of cues related to the patient's situation, confirmation of information gathered and implementation of action strategies. • The results are discussed in relation to earlier empirical research on decision‐making activities in the nurse's clinical practice and the nurse's utilization of knowledge during the decision‐making process. • It is concluded that the nurse's awareness of the patient's situation, together with a well‐founded basis for decisions, can have positive effects on the nursing care provided by the nurse.