Preparation that Strengthens Clinical Judgment (2024)

FAQs

What strategies can you use to develop better clinical judgment? ›

There are many teaching strategies that are effective in developing students' clinical judgment and other cognitive skills. These strategies include questions, simulation with debriefing, think-aloud activities, discussions, cases and unfolding cases, reflection, and clinical practice.

As one of the key attributes of professional nursing, clinical judgment refers to the process by which nurses make decisions based on nursing knowledge (evidence, theories, ways/patterns of knowing), other disciplinary knowledge, critical thinking, and clinical reasoning.

Good clinical judgment is required to select the most relevant research evidence. The best clinical judgment, that is, reasoning across time about the particular patient through changes in the patient's concerns and condition and/or the clinician's understanding, are also required.

Examples of clinical judgement range from the monumental (such as whether to discontinue life-support for a patient on dialysis) to the banal (such as whether to discontinue a telephone call when on hold with nephrology).

The study also indicated that the average ability of a nurse to demonstrate the different steps in the clinical judgment process (cue recognition, hypothesis generation, hypothesis evaluation, taking actions and evaluating outcomes) is progressive.

Clinical judgement is developed through practice, experience, knowledge and continuous critical analysis. It extends into all medical areas: diagnosis, therapy, communication and decision making.

Clinical decision making has three integrated phases: (1) diagnosis, (2) assessment of severity, and (3) management.

An article in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice explains that “Clinical judgment is developed through practice, experience, knowledge and continuous critical analysis.

What are the factors affecting clinical judgement? ›

The factors influencing nursing students' clinical judgment consisted of five main categories including thoughtful behaviour, professional ethics, use of evidence based care, the context of learning environment and individual and professional features of clinical teachers.

Clinical Judgment is the process by which the nurse decides on data to be collected about a client, makes an interpretation of the data, arrives at a nursing diagnosis, and identifies appropriate nursing actions; this involves problem solving, decision making, and critical thinking.

Clinical judgment is made up of actions and behaviors dependent on cognitive, psychom*otor behaviors and affective processes. Accurate patient assessment is needed to provide appropriate intervention.

Clinical decision making has three integrated phases: (1) diagnosis, (2) assessment of severity, and (3) management. Appropriate clinical decision making considers the need to make a precise diagnosis as well as the costs associated with inappropriate or indiscriminate use of diagnostic tests.

Factors that affect decision making

Clinical decision making is a balance of known best practice (the evidence, the research), awareness of the current situation and environment, and knowledge of the patient. It is about 'joining the dots' to make an informed decision.

Give your learners the opportunity to experience realistic patient encounters, interactive communication, and personalized feedback with virtual simulations so they can practice as often as they'd like and build their clinical judgment skills on their own time.