A Concept Analysis of Nurses’ Clinical Decision Making: Implications for Korea

The study’s purpose was to identify the meaning and the attributes of Korean nurses’ clinical decision making. A sequential and systematic literature review with reflection according to the conceptual analysis method of Walker and Avant was used in this study. Data sources included the National Assembly Library, the National Digital Science Library, ProQuest, PubMed, MEDLINE, and CINAHL. Finally, twenty-six articles were included in this concept analysis. The concept of Korean nurses’ clinical decision making consisted of the following attributes: clinical reasoning, choosing and applying challenging alternatives, and professional assessment and resetting. Antecedents consisted of: recognizing complex and diverse patient situations with high uncertainty, the need to solve problems according to priority, prior experience in clinical decision making, and interrelationships with fellow medical staff. Consequences consisted of: providing high-quality nursing services, improving the patient’s safety, and increased satisfaction with clinical decision making. Based on these results, the conceptual attributes of Korean nurses’ clinical decision making had slightly different characteristics but were organically interrelated. The results of analyzing the concept of Korean nurses’ clinical decision making provide a better understanding of it and contribute to expanding nursing knowledge and developing a valid and reliable measurement.