DETERMINING THE INTENSITY OF EFFECTIVE INDIVIDUAL FACTORS ON CLINICAL DECISION-MAKING OF NURSES

Clinical decision-making is a critical thinking process which is accepted as an essential part of nursing practice. Effective decision-making needs professional skills and knowledge and accurate clinical judgment. Several factors may influence on clinical decision-making. This study has been conducted to assess intensity of effective factors on clinical decision-making. This cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out among educational hospital nurses of Rasht City. 193 nurses were selected by a stratified random sampling method. Respondents filled a demographic checklist and a researcher-conducted questionnaire on effective factors on clinical decision-making. Data were analyzed by SPSS16 software. More than 80% of the participants selected education، job experience and working in present ward. About 70% believed age and tendency to work in present ward has high impact on their clinical-decision making. Less than half of them rated marriage with low effect. Based on the findings of this study، designing strategies to improve education quality (in university and continues education courses) as well as assigning experienced nurses to help novice nursing staff make better clinical decisions could be recommended.