Nurses perception of factors infuencing clinical decision making

Introduction: Nurses are practicing in the era of ongoing advancement of research and technology. This change in health care environment needs nurses to improve competency in decision making to respond to client’s requirement. Objective: To find out perceived factors affecting Clinical Decision Making (CDM) skills regarding Post-operative pain management among staff nurses. Methodology: A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 165 nurses in a selected hospital of Udupi district, Karnataka. A 36 item Questionnaire on Factors Affecting CDM regarding Post-operative pain management was used to assess the factors affecting CDM for caring for with post-operative pain. Results: Majority of the participants agreed that Self-esteem (General), education regarding decision making, situation, clinical nursing experience were the most influencing factors. Apart from the above factors, influence of Senior nurses in the clinical field (Modeling), cognitive process, relationship with ward in-charge, perception of CDM were the moderately influencing factors and the least influencing factors were locus of control and stress related to clinical decision making regarding Post-operative pain management Conclusion: Clinical decision making is an essential component of quality clinical nursing practice. Understanding the factors influencing decision making enables to strengthen the individual and external factors enabling appropriate decisions to be taken regarding patient care.