Diagnostic process and decision making in nursing: a literature review

In clinical practice professional nurses appear to make different judgments regarding particular nursing situations. The purpose of this literature review is to gain insight into the way nurses make decisions related to nursing diagnoses and interventions. Literature on decision making can be divided into literature that focuses on how decisions are made, ie, information-processing model, and information that focuses on how decisions ought to be made, ie, mathematical models. Most of the literature about decision making in nursing in particular appears to focus on the former, specifically on the stages and strategies in the decision-making process and on factors influencing this process. These factors include the problem task (cues), the decision maker (his or her knowledge, experience, personal variability), and discipline. However, to date, most of the research that has been done with regard to these factors has been restricted to the performance between novice and expert. We conclude that further validation of nursing diagnoses is necessary to ensure accuracy in decision making in nursing.