Using a case example analyse a decision made by a nurse in the Essay

Using a case example analyse a decision made by a nurse in the practice setting - Essay Example Decision making in a nursing profession evaluates the ability of a nurse to identify and collect critical information in an emergency situation, analyze on them, identify appropriate decisions and more importantly, implement those decisions in such precarious situations.According to the case presented, the decision of the nurse is to respect the choice of the patient and go with the method of treatment, as chosen by the patient. (Adair 1999) This decision-making process plays an integral part in establishing the most complex of all relationships in health care – between a patient and the nurse.The health care services have improved so much that patients have become more cautious about the approach taken for their treatment. (Benner 2004) Many of the services are customized in such a way that the patient’s approval of the process taken for their treatment has become a must. So, with the growing trend, people have started to understand about the different options availabl e for a particular treatment and know about the consequences of each of the methods. (Benner 2001) These steps of improvement towards health care clearly show that decision-making has gained high priority among the patients. The changing trends have made sure that nurses are given full freedom to excise their duties and make appropriate decision. Such autonomy has also provided them with prime responsibility. Any decision that could have severe impact directly affects the growth of their career. (Department of Health Nursing and Midwifery Council 2002) It also acts as one of the means of measuring a nurse’s contribution towards improvement of health care. The clinical importance of decision-making process is directly attributed towards the improvement of patient care. Their critical thinking skills in a clinical field allow them to be actively responsive to grasping even semblance of opportunities that could help in improving care. (Chapman 1994) In this case study, the patie nt is a 26 year old female working as an assistant in a shop. The patient as got a cut in the proximal phalange on the dorsal aspect of the middle finger. The patient is extremely tentative towards the concept of needles and sutures and in every possibility is in favor of avoiding such methods to treat her. The nurse handling the case, being an experienced practitioner in nursing gave the opportunity for the patient to decide between suture and gluing. The nurse practitioner did not fail to mention about the advantages and consequences of choosing each method. Given the stress that the patient incurs about suture and needles, the patient’s choice for gluing method to treat her was respected and followed. The first priority of the nurse practitioner while deciding on the method of treatment was to respect the choice of the patient. Since the patient was given the details of both the procedures and after having decided that the nature of the wound to be a minor one, the patient was given the responsibility of self-management. Secondly, the guidelines of the gluing procedure were easily satisfied by the wound’s state and hence, the nurse had an easy approach while deciding on the treatment. (Tschudin 1994) Several systems like the Clinical Decision Support Systems are used to support practitioners while making decisions. (DOH 2007) Such systems are categorized as knowledge based and non-knowledge based. These systems work on the basis of the information collected and also on the past history of the patient to guide the practitioners to take a final decision. Ultimately, these systems only help in guiding the practitioners to make a decision and they do not finalize any decision. (DOH 2009) The theories of rational approach towards clinical decision-making suggest that, decisions should be made on a long term basis, taking in details of the numerical data, the probabilities of different decisions and others facts. These systems help in collecting tho se empirical data and allow for making a decision that is well thought