Heuristics, servants to intuition, in clinical decision-making

This paper explores intuitive judgements of nurses in clinical decision-making situations. The qualities of intuition are presented from both theoretical and practical perspectives and attitudes towards intuition from both nurses themselves and other health professionals are identified. An heuristic framework from cognitive psychology is applied to intuitive aspects of the clinical judgements that nurses have made. This interpretation is proposed as a partial explanation of intuition, and its use in advancing the understanding of intuition is recommended.