Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

SAGETRACK

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Western Journal of Nursing Research
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Simmons, B.
Right arrow Articles by Holm, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Simmons, B.
Right arrow Articles by Holm, K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

Other

Clinical Reasoning in Experienced Nurses

Barbara Simmons

University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Nursing, Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing

Dorothy Lanuza

Loyola University Medical Center

Marsha Fonteyn

University of San Francisco, School of Nursing

Frank Hicks

Rush University, College of Nursing

Karyn Holm

DePaul University Chicago, Department of Nursing

As an essential component of nursing practice, clinical reasoning is used to assimilate information, analyze data, and make decisions regarding patient care. Little is known about the reasoning strategies of experienced nurses who are not yet experts. This qualitative descriptive study explored the cognitive strategies used by experienced nurses as they considered assessment findings of assigned patients. To date, few studies of nurses' clinical reasoning have been conducted in a practice setting during actual patient care. A small group research design was employed using the think-aloud (TA) method with protocol analysis. A total of 15 experienced nurses were asked to "think aloud" about patient assessment findings. Data were audiotaped, transcribed, and analyzed using the three steps of protocol analysis. The results suggest that experienced nurses used a conceptual language to reason about assessment findings and used heuristics to reason more quickly and efficiently.

Key Words: clinical reasoning • think aloud • heuristics • experienced nurse

Western Journal of Nursing Research, Vol. 25, No. 6, 701-719 (2003)
DOI: 10.1177/0193945903253092
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Policy Politics Nursing PracticeHome page
L. Orsolini-Hain and R. E. Malone
Examining the Impending Gap in Clinical Nursing Expertise
Policy Politics Nursing Practice, August 1, 2007; 8(3): 158 - 169.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Evid. Based Nurs.Home page
Other articles noted: 25 Jul 03 to 7 Nov 03
Evid. Based Nurs., January 1, 2004; 7(1): e1 - 1.
[Full Text] [PDF]