Nurses’ perception of uncertainty in clinical decision-making: A qualitative study

Mitra Mousavi Shabestari; Faranak Jabbarzadeh Tabrizi; Fariborz Roshangar; Akram Ghahramanian; Vahid Zamanzadeh; Parvin Sarbakhsh; David A. Agom

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e36228

Nurses’ perception of uncertainty in clinical decision-making: A qualitative study

Mitra Mousavi Shabestari, Faranak Jabbarzadeh Tabrizi, Fariborz Roshangar, Akram Ghahramanian, Vahid Zamanzadeh, Parvin Sarbakhsh, David A. Agom

Social, Therapies & Communities

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Uncertainty is a common challenge for nurses in clinical decision-making, which can compromise patient care quality and safety. To address this issue, it is essential to understand how nurses perceive and cope with uncertainty in their practice.

AIM: This study aimed to explore nurses' perceptions of uncertainty in clinical decision-making using a qualitative approach.

METHODS: This study was conducted with a qualitative approach and conventional content analysis in 2020. Participants consisted of 17 nurses from different wards of teaching hospitals in Northwestern Iran, recruited using the purposive sampling method. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed simultaneously with data collection (June to December 2020). The data were analyzed using the content analysis approach suggested by Wildemuth. Data were managed with MAXQDA10 software. The analysis revealed four main themes and ten subthemes that described the nurses' experiences of uncertainty in clinical decision-making.

RESULTS: The main themes were: difficult choice, difficult situation, insufficient judgment, and emotional burden.

CONCLUSIONS: The study participants defined uncertainty in clinical decision-making as a difficult choice that occurs in difficult situations, which influenced their clinical judgment and emotional well-being. These findings provide valuable insights for developing interventions to help nurses manage uncertainty and improve their decision-making skills and safety.

Original language	English
Article number	e36228
Number of pages	10
Journal	Heliyon
Volume	10
Issue number	16
Early online date	14 Aug 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e36228
Publication status	Published - 14 Aug 2024

Bibliographical note

© 2024 The Authors.

Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (Ethics code: IR.TBZMED.REC.1399.148). Ethical considerations included informed consent, voluntary participation, and permission for recording the interviews. Moreover, the research objectives were explained verbally and in written form. Informed consent to participate and publish was acquired from each participant.

Our study was a qualitative research using interviews. The participants were nurses who were informed of the study objectives before participating and gave their informed consent. Ethical approval was obtained from the Ethics Committee of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (Ethics code: IR.TBZMED.REC.1399.148). Ethical considerations included informed consent, voluntary participation, and permission for recording the interviews. This study did not involve any clinical trials and did not require any.

Data Access Statement

Due to ethical considerations, the data from this research are not available in a publicly accessible repository. Data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Keywords

Judgment
Clinical decision-making
Uncertainty
Perception

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10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e36228Licence: CC BY-NC

Mousavi-Shabestari_et_al_2024_Nurses’_perception_of_uncertainty_in_clinical_decision-making_A_qualitative_studyFinal published version, 2.07 MBLicence: CC BY-NC

Cite this

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abstract = "BACKGROUND: Uncertainty is a common challenge for nurses in clinical decision-making, which can compromise patient care quality and safety. To address this issue, it is essential to understand how nurses perceive and cope with uncertainty in their practice.AIM: This study aimed to explore nurses' perceptions of uncertainty in clinical decision-making using a qualitative approach.METHODS: This study was conducted with a qualitative approach and conventional content analysis in 2020. Participants consisted of 17 nurses from different wards of teaching hospitals in Northwestern Iran, recruited using the purposive sampling method. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed simultaneously with data collection (June to December 2020). The data were analyzed using the content analysis approach suggested by Wildemuth. Data were managed with MAXQDA10 software. The analysis revealed four main themes and ten subthemes that described the nurses' experiences of uncertainty in clinical decision-making.RESULTS: The main themes were: difficult choice, difficult situation, insufficient judgment, and emotional burden.CONCLUSIONS: The study participants defined uncertainty in clinical decision-making as a difficult choice that occurs in difficult situations, which influenced their clinical judgment and emotional well-being. These findings provide valuable insights for developing interventions to help nurses manage uncertainty and improve their decision-making skills and safety.",

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AU - Ghahramanian, Akram

AU - Zamanzadeh, Vahid

AU - Sarbakhsh, Parvin

AU - Agom, David A.

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N2 - BACKGROUND: Uncertainty is a common challenge for nurses in clinical decision-making, which can compromise patient care quality and safety. To address this issue, it is essential to understand how nurses perceive and cope with uncertainty in their practice.AIM: This study aimed to explore nurses' perceptions of uncertainty in clinical decision-making using a qualitative approach.METHODS: This study was conducted with a qualitative approach and conventional content analysis in 2020. Participants consisted of 17 nurses from different wards of teaching hospitals in Northwestern Iran, recruited using the purposive sampling method. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed simultaneously with data collection (June to December 2020). The data were analyzed using the content analysis approach suggested by Wildemuth. Data were managed with MAXQDA10 software. The analysis revealed four main themes and ten subthemes that described the nurses' experiences of uncertainty in clinical decision-making.RESULTS: The main themes were: difficult choice, difficult situation, insufficient judgment, and emotional burden.CONCLUSIONS: The study participants defined uncertainty in clinical decision-making as a difficult choice that occurs in difficult situations, which influenced their clinical judgment and emotional well-being. These findings provide valuable insights for developing interventions to help nurses manage uncertainty and improve their decision-making skills and safety.

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JO - Heliyon

JF - Heliyon

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ER -

Nurses’ perception of uncertainty in clinical decision-making: A qualitative study

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Access Statement

Keywords

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