Significance Of Nursing Decision-Making for Professional Nursing Associate Practice

 

What is nursing practice?

 

Nursing practice is one of the most critical professions in the field of medicine. It is a profession that requires a lot of dedication and critical decision-making. It is a profession where an individual is under constant pressure as it involves the life and death situation. A nurse is a frontline worker who comes in contact with the patient even before the doctor. Therefore, they must be very careful about their approach.

            Healthcare leaders in professional groups and, to a lesser extent, governmental organizations like the Public Health Service's Bureau of Health Professions, set guidelines and criteria that serve as regulations for the profession. The actual nursing tasks that nurses conduct are also governed by methodical models for nursing practice. The nursing evaluation, prognosis, preparation, intrusion, and analysis are currently the most globally acknowledged frameworks for nursing practice.

            It has been said that the nursing practice, which consists of screening, diagnosis, organization, results, treatment, and assessment, is the foundation and center of all nursing practices. Systematic nursing decision-making is carried out through a purposeful, methodical, and reasonable problem-solving procedure. Individuals, and their families, are continuously involved in nursing care at all stages, from diagnosis to assessment. Based on relevant data from the patient or any other source, diagnoses, procedures, and actions may be changed at any point. The patient should actively engage equally in the nursing associate practice, limited only by any physical or psychological restrictions on their participation.

How to make decisions in nursing during critical situations?

The best way to make nursing decision-making for professional nursing associate practice is through Evidence-based practices. An approach to healthcare known as "evidence-based practice" takes advantage of the most recent studies to enhance patient safety and wellness while lowering overall expenses and diversity in clinical outcomes. It is practical problem-solving that takes into account the interests and opinions of the patients being treated as well as the best practices from the most recent medical research.

 EBP equips nurses with the knowledge and skills they require to act as transformational leaders for better healthcare experiences for patients. It starts with inspection and the conceptualization of an inquiry, continues with the inquisitive quest of an appropriate response through survey and assimilation into medical services, and ideally leads to improved circumstances and consequences, both regionally and worldwide, as the observations are allowed to share. This approach embodies a problem-solving and inquiry moral code. The main objectives behind implementing evidence-based practice are:

  • To improve the evidence of the patients through a case-specific approach.
  • Improving the health overall healthcare system.
  • The last objective is to reduce the cost and provide maximum healthcare at a minimal cost.

The nurse practitioner must follow a step-by-step process of evidence-based practice during any healthcare crisis. These steps are:

  • Assess the patient properly - Observe your patient and identify any relevant problems. You can be searching for proof of treatment alternatives, prognosis, or diagnostic procedures. Check the patient's blood sugar level, pulse, and heart rate to determine whether their condition is stable or not.
  • Asking the right question at the right time –Ask a question to the patient or the member of the family that can be answered. It's crucial to have a solid query before you begin your search. The PICO model is one method for creating a solid question. Patient, intervention, comparison, and outcomes are all referred to as PICO. The questions can involve the health status of the patients, what tests can be conducted on them, whether is there any alternative option for testing or finding out the issues, and what outcome are we expecting from the result.
  • Find the answer through proper research - Obtain the best evidence possible. To get the strongest evidence, search the relevant records and resources. The levels of the evidence pyramid are one method for arranging the many types of evidence used in evidence-based practice research. The pyramid has various levels and types of evidence. This includes systematic reviews, critically-appraised topics, critically-appraised articles, randomized controlled trials, cohort studies, and case-controlled studies.
  • Appraise the evidence - Check to see if the data you found is accurate, reliable, and pertinent to your patient. It is the process of meticulously and methodically analyzing research to determine its reliability, as well as it is worth and applicability in a given situation.
  • Use your expertise - It is time to use the evidence in your practice when you have stated your concerns, located the relevant information, and critically evaluated it. The findings from the studies should be combined with your clinical knowledge, your professional expertise, and the opinions of the patients.
  • Evaluate your decision - To do this, consider your performance along the process. Check what worked and what didn’t. Try to improve the places where you went wrong.

 

Why it is important to make the right decisions in nursing practice?

 

The significance of nursing decision-making about patient care is constant in the clinical context. The act of selecting is at the heart of decision-making. The intricacy of this process and the need for access to trustworthy information sources along with functioning in a supportive atmosphere indicate that professional decision-making demands a broad knowledge base. Regardless of the environment or region they are working in, nurses' decisions will affect how well they function in clinical practice and how their patients' lives and encounters with healthcare are affected. Therefore, it is crucial to understand how nurses make decisions as they can impact the lives of patients and their family members.

Best decision-making process

Within the healthcare industry, nurses are a group of skilled professionals. They, therefore, require support, supplies, and knowledge from their surroundings. Fostering productive work environments where high-quality care may be provided requires the nurse manager's proficiency in reflective practice and cooperative decision-making. These can be done through:

  • Define the issue, decide why action should be taken, and consider potential outcomes.
  • Establish appropriate standards for the goals you have in mind. 
  • Consider all viable alternatives that can help you achieve your target outcome or meet your solution criteria.
  • Decide which option or decision is the ideal based on your knowledge, judgment, and research.
  • Create and carry out a plan of action to solve the issue.
  • Analyze the decision using discussion, troubleshooting, and tracking.