The Effect of Concept Map on Nurses' Critical Thinking and Clinical Decision Making in Neonatal Intensive Cares Unit

Introduction: The ability of critical thinking and clinical decision making is a professional necessity in nursing. Concept map is one of the novel and constructive methods of educational technology in nursing that can lead to meaningful deep learning. This study was conducted to determine the effect of teaching concept map on critical thinking and clinical decision making of nurses. Methods: This quasi-experimental study of pre-test and post-test method was performed on nurses of Vliasr Hospital working in neonatal intensive cares units (n=30) selected through census. Five specialized scenarios of neonatal ward were taught to nurses through concept map for 5 consecutive weeks. Data was gathered before and after intervention using a questionnaire consisting three parts of demographic characteristics, B California Critical Thinking Test Questions, and clinical decision making cards by Q-Sort. Data was analyzed using paired and independent t-test at a significance level of (P<0.05). Results: Both mean scores of critical thinking and clinical decision making showed a significant improvement from 12.6±3.3 and 84.3±4.9 respectively before the intervention to 26±5.1 and 98.2±1/9 after the intervention out of a total of 64 (P<0.001). Moreover, the increase in clinical decision making score was significantly higher among impermanently employed nurses compared to officially employed ones (P=0.004, 16.5±5 versus 11.4±3.9). Furthermore, this score was higher among those with working background of less than 10 years compared to those having longer working backgrounds (P=0.002, 16.7±4.9 versus 11.2±3.8). Conclusion: Concept map in nursing education could result in development of critical thinking skills and clinical decision making. So it is recommended to employ this method in clinical nursing education.