Thinking processes used by nurses in clinical decision making.

Clinical decision making forms the basis of expert clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to investigate and document the thinking processes used by nurses in clinical decision making situations so the processes could guide educational practice. Clinical data was analyzed to reveal that clinical decision making is complex and requires a variety of thinking processes. Medical and surgical nurses used different thinking processes, showing the importance of context in clinical decision making. The nursing exemplars and working vocabulary developed in this study to describe the thinking processes used in clinical decision making can be used in nursing education.