The Relationship Between Critical Thinking and Confidence in Decision-Making

3606 Words15 Pages
ABSTRACT
Nurses make decisions every day while planning and delivering care within their scope of practice.
Effective and appropriate decision-making requires the acquisition and utilisation of pertinent data as well as higher order thinking skills such as decisionmaking and critical thinking.
Research aims:
The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between critical thinking and confidence in decision-making for new graduate nurses.
Methods:
Critical thinking scores for two groups of new graduate nurses were correlated to confidence in decision-making scores for the same nurses.
Major findings:
The study had some surprising and interesting findings. Contrary to prior studies that have found either no relationship or a positive correlation between critical thinking and confidence in decision-making, this study found a negative correlation between these two variables. These findings have implications both for tertiary nursing education and continuing clinical education. Conclusion:
New graduate nurses who have higher critical thinking scores and seem more hesitant in decisionmaking should be encouraged in their questioning attitude. There is a need for professional development courses that raise awareness of the importance of a nursing culture that encourages a more open questioning attitude to decision-making.
INTRODUCTION
N urses work in many different roles and settings either directly or indirectly related to patient care.
Care delivery has however changed with advances in technology, disease treatment and prevention and nurses need to become skilled in higher-level thinking if they are to effectively manage the complex changes resulting from the increasing demands and greater accountability required of the profession
(Simpson and Courtney 2002). Nurses make decisions every day while planning and delivering

More about The Relationship Between Critical Thinking and Confidence in Decision-Making

Open Document