Clinical judgment and decision-making of the Undergraduate Nursing students

Abstract

Clinical judgment and decision-making are essential competencies in nursing, emerging as expanding learning areas of nursing educa-tion. Aiming to characterize the types of clinical judgment and decision-making adopted by nursing students in clinical education, we designed a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive study, with data collection obtained through documen-tal analysis of nursing student’s reflective journals, in clinical education settings. Data analysis was performed according to Bardin using the webQ-DA software. Thirty-four students participated in the study, while attending the Clinical Learning Curricular Unit: Caring for Clients with Increased Vulnerability and Families in Transition, producing a total of 40 reflective journals. Of the 248 identified registration units, we highlight the evaluation decision-making with 45 registration units and the intervention decision-making, with 55 registration units. It is concluded that studen-t´s reflections in the context of clinical teaching, are mainly about the assessment of the care situ-ation and the decision-making related to the ac-tion. This study is intended to guide the learning of these competencies in nursing education.