Decision Making in the Clinical Arena

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Recommended: Importance of critical thinking in decision making

Decision making is a routine every day process for nurses; some of these decisions are easy and require little if no thought, but others are more difficult and complex requiring skill and expertise in order to generate the correct decision. “Decision making may or may not involve a problem, but it always involves selecting one of several alternatives, each of which may be appropriate under certain circumstances” (Sullivan, 2013, p. 103). Many studies have examined the various styles of decision-making and have attempted to determine the best style for each situation. Although there is no absolute answer, many of these studies incorporated critical thinking into the mix. In fact, according to Sullivan (2013), “Nurses supervised by managers with higher critical thinking skills perceived their work environment to be more positive than those whose managers scored lower on critical thinking skills” (p. 100). With my experience in intensive care and invasive cardiology, I have encountered ample opportunities to incorporate my decision making abilities. However, it was not until two and a half years ago, when I was tasked with the role of clinical cardiology supervisor that I made one of the biggest decisions of my career, thus far.
Under this new role, I would be faced with a plethora of decisions and I was a bit overwhelmed with this challenge, but I knew by formulating appropriate decisions was paramount to establishing trust with my newly acquired staff. One of the most difficult nursing decisions I had to make in the past 2 years was the combining of the noninvasive cardiology department with the cardiovascular holding unit. I was responsible for analyzing the situation in order to make a fully informed, safe decision, fo...

... middle of paper ...

...ology and cardiovascular holding.

References
Butterworth, C. (2013). Leading the way. Occupational Health, 65(11), 22-24.
Gillespi, M., & Peterson, B. (2009). Helping novice nurses make effective clinical decisions: the situated clinical decision-making framework. Nursing Education Perspectives, 30(3), 164-170.
Portoghese, I., Galletta, M., Battistelli, A., Saiani, L., Penna, M., & Allegrini, E. (2012). Change-related expectations and commitment to change of nurses: the role of leadership and communication. Journal Of Nursing Management, 20(5), 582-591.
Stubbings, L., Chaboyer, W., & McMurray, A. (2012). Nurses' use of situation awareness in decision-making: an integrative review. Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 68(7), 1443-1453.
Sullivan, E. (2013). Effective leadership and management in nursing (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

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