Maximization delays decision-making in acute care nursing

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Decision Science
• Nursing

Background:

• Maximization is a personality trait influencing decision-making, ranging from exhaustive analysis to accepting satisfactory options.
• Its role in high-risk, high-uncertainty situations, particularly in professional contexts like nursing, remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the influence of the maximization personality trait on decision-making in high-risk, high-uncertainty scenarios among active Spanish nurses.
• To examine the relationship between maximization, decision time, choice of action, subjective experience, and expertise in critical care contexts.

Main Methods:

• A sample of 153 active Spanish nurses completed a maximization questionnaire.
• Participants responded to written vignettes depicting time-demanding decisions in acute care (COVID-19 pandemic) and non-nursing scenarios, offering delayed, non-, or immediate action options.

Main Results:

• Individuals high in maximization took longer to decide and were more prone to choose non-action.
• Maximization scores did not correlate with subjective experience, years of experience, or perceived expertise.
• In nursing vignettes, high maximizers responded slower but favored immediate over delayed action, suggesting context-specific modulation.

Conclusions:

• Maximization's role in acute care nursing decision-making is relative, influenced by contextual variables and expertise, supporting a domain-general view of the trait.
• Perceived expertise is linked to reduced indecision and increased confidence in decision-making.
• Findings align with the Practice-Primed Decision Model in nursing contexts.