Critical decision method: a technique for eliciting concrete assessment indicators from the intuition of NICU nurses

Two studies supporting the use of the Critical Decision method (CDM) in eliciting knowledge from expert neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses are presented. The first examines the utility of CDM in the nursing profession. In this study, significantly more information was elicited in CDM interviews than in non-CDM interviews. In the second study, cues, indicators, and exemplars were extracted from CDM incident accounts to form a guide to early sepsis assessment in the NICU that contains information not available in the current literature. All evaluators rated the guide as useful. Implications for future research, including generalizability to other areas of nursing, are discussed.