The study on the relationship between critical thinking and clinical decision making ability among nurses in the tertiary Grade A hospitals

Objective To understand the status quo of the critical thinking and clinical decision-making ability of nurses from the Third-Grade Class-A hospitals in Zhongshan city, and the correlation between critical thinking and clinical decision-making ability.To further explore the influencing factors of clinical decision-making ability of nurses and the ways to improve the clinical decision-making ability of clinical nurses. Methods A total of 260 nurses from 4 Third-Grade Class-A hospitals in Zhongshan city were investigated by the Self-Designed General Information Questionnare, Critical-thinking Disposition Inventory in Chinese Version(CTDI-CV) and Clinical-Nursing Decision-Making Assessment Tool(CDMNS). Results The score of critical thinking ability of clinical nurses was(272.83±23.58), which showed that the critical thinking ability of clinical nurses from Third-Grade Class-A hospitals in Zhongshan city was at a moderate level.The clinical decision-making ability of clinical nurses was (137.53±12.87), which was in the middle level. Conclusion The results of the multiple linear regression analysis on the clinical decision-making ability of clinical nurses showed that the cognition maturity of the critical mind, intellectual curiosity, open mind and the working department of the general factors are the important influencing factors for the decision-making ability of the nurses. Key words: Clinical nurses; Critical thinking; Clinical decision ability