Nurses' uncertainty in decision-making: a literature review

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Clinical Decision-Making
• Healthcare Research

Background:

• Existing research on uncertainty primarily focuses on physicians and patients.
• Nurses' experiences and actions related to clinical uncertainty are under-researched.
• Understanding nurses' perspectives on uncertainty is crucial for improving practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review and synthesize the literature on the conceptualization of nurses' clinical uncertainty.
• To identify how nurses' uncertainty in practice has been described and understood.
• To explore the impact of uncertainty on nurses' decision-making processes.

Main Methods:

• A literature review was conducted using Medline, CINAHL, and PubMed databases.
• The search focused on literature published between 1990 and 2007.
• The review aimed to answer: How has nurses' clinical uncertainty been conceptualized in nursing literature?

Main Results:

• Nurses' experiences of uncertainty in practice are minimally explored in the literature.
• Uncertainty often arises from unfamiliarity with patient care aspects.
• Nurses rely on heuristics and colleagues' expertise but struggle to recognize or express their uncertainties, hindering information seeking.

Conclusions:

• A deeper understanding of nurses' uncertainty is needed to develop supportive strategies.
• Further research should describe how nurses experience and respond to uncertainty.
• The influence of uncertainty on nurses' information needs and seeking behaviors requires investigation.