Critical care nurses' critical thinking and decision making related to pain management.
OBJECTIVES The current study aimed to examine nurses' critical thinking and decision making skills related to pain management and their association with nurses' characteristics. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY/DESIGN This descriptive correlational study used a convenience sample of 115 critical care nurses working in a university hospital in Jordan. Data were collected using a pain related vignette and validated questionnaires. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The Critical Thinking Self Assessment Scale and the Nursing Decision Making Instrument were used to measure the nurses' critical thinking and decision making skills, respectively. As a secondary outcome measure, data regarding the sociodemographic/professional characteristics of the participants, including gender, marital status, experience, education and work environment, were collected. RESULT The participating nurses reported poor critical thinking and intuitive decision making skills related to pain management. Nurses with more clinical experience and higher levels of education reported significantly better critical thinking and intuitive decision making skills than less experienced and less educated nurses. Nurses with intuitive decision making modes reported significantly better levels of critical thinking than nurses with analytical or flexible analytical intuitive decision making modes. CONCLUSION Critical care nurses were found to have ineffective critical thinking and intuitive decision making skills related to pain management, which may lead to poor patient outcomes. Gaining more in depth understanding of nurses' critical thinking and decision making skills and their associated factors is crucial for achieving effective pain management in critical care settings.
Intensive critical care nursing