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Research information in nurses' clinical decision-making: what is useful?
C Thompson1, D McCaughan, N Cullum
1Centre for Evidence-based Nursing, Department of Health Studies, University of York, York, UK. cat4@york.ac.uk
Journal of Advanced Nursing
|November 1, 2001
Summary
Nurses find human sources of information more useful than text or electronic resources for clinical decision-making. Trusted colleagues and clinical experts are key to reducing uncertainty in nursing practice.
Area of Science:
- Nursing
- Clinical Decision-Making
- Information Science
Background:
- Nursing research often focuses on implementation, neglecting research use in clinical decisions.
- There's a gap in understanding how nurses perceive information sources for clinical uncertainty reduction.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify information sources nurses find valuable for reducing clinical decision-making uncertainty.
- To explore nurses' perceptions of information utility in practice.
Main Methods:
- Qualitative cross-case analysis across three UK hospitals.
- Methods included interviews, observation, documentary audit, and Q methodology.
- 108 nurses interviewed, 61 observed, 122 participated in Q modelling.
Main Results:
- Text-based and electronic research sources offered limited utility.
- Human information sources were overwhelmingly perceived as most useful.
- Four distinct perspectives on useful information sources were identified.
Conclusions:
- The medium of research delivery, not the knowledge itself, impacts its utility.
- Nurses find real-time, trusted human sources more useful than text/electronic resources.
- Further research on key human information agents (e.g., clinical nurse specialists) is warranted.