Clinical decision making: its relation with critical thinking

Introduction: Clinical decision making as a fundamental part of nursing profession effects ‎quality of nursing care the most. Nurse as a clinical decision maker uses critical thinking in ‎providing proficient care. Evaluation of data and choosing proper intervention to reach a ‎correct decision needs skillful thinking. Present studies related to critical thinking and clinical ‎decision making didn't show similar results. ‎ Objective: The goal of this study was to determine the relationship between critical thinking ‎‎(CT) and clinical decision making of senior nursing students of Gilan University of Medical ‎sciences. ‎ Methods: In this descriptive study, all ‎‏50‏‎ senior nursing students of Shahid Beheshti faculty ‎of nursing and midwifery and East Gilan faculty who were spending their last term of ‎internship were chosen. Data collection questionnaire consisted of three parts of ‎demographics, California critical thinking questions, and clinical thinking questions.  ‎ Results: Findings indicated majority of samples (‎‏86%‏‎) had poor CT and their mean score was ‎‏11.86‏‎±‎‏3.25‏‎. Chi square test showed significant relationship (p=‎‏0.001‏‎) between CT score and ‎mean average of previous terms. In addition, mean score of clinical decision making was ‎‏66.7‏‎±‎‏4.9‏‎. Most students (‎‏70%‏‎) had systematic-analytic decision making and ‎‏30%‏‎ had analytic-‎observational decision making. Also there was a significant relationship between clinical ‎decision making score and mean average of previous terms (p=‎‏0.02‏‎). Fisher test did not ‎indicate a relationship between CT score and clinical decision making. ‎  Conclusion: In attention to lack of relationship between CT and clinical decision making ‎score, the study hypothesis is rejected. Due to low score of CT and relation of clinical decision ‎making with job experience, it is necessary to use new methods of theory and clinical ‎teaching in order to promote students' CT and providing more clinical opportunities.‎