The Change of Characteristics in Clinical Decision Making in Novice Critical Care Nurses

중환자실 신규간호사의 임상의사결정 특성의 변화

The main purpose of this research is to describe comprehensively the processes of clinical decision making in novice critical care nurses through clinical experience. This research was an exploratory, longitudinal study using a fieldwork approach incorporating "think-aloud" method and in-depth interviews with the study participants. The study participants consisted of 5 novice nurses assigned to critical care units at a tertiary medical center located in Seoul, among a group of 27 novice nurses who started at the same period at this hospital. The data were collected from March 1999 to April 2000. The major findings of the study is that the novice nurses followed the analytic linear model of clinical decision making in the beginning, but were changed increasingly to follow the comprehensive, integrated model of clinical decision making. Through repeated experience that resulted in increasing repertoire of clinical schema and familiarity of task environments of clinical practice the novice nurses expanded their ability to arrive at comprehensive integration of information and to arrive at accurate and time-efficient decisions. Both the analytic, linear model mostly used at the beginning period and the comprehensive, integrated model that seems to be the mode significantly dependent upon experience seem to have strengths and weaknesses as decision making processes in clinical situations. Hence, it is imperative to develop an effective orientation and training program for novice nurses through the use of clinical preceptors. In addition, students should be exposed to the process of clinical decision making early in their nursing education through an appropriate clinical experiences and clinical assignments.