The Decision-Making Process
The decision-making process entails determining what is right or incorrect based on the condition of the circumstance or after weighing the advantages and disadvantages of both sides. In their work, nurses must make decisions on a regular basis. The nursing profession has an ethical code that creates many quandaries in the decision-making process (Papathanassoglou, 52).
Example of a Bad Decision
In my nursing career, I have three choices. Some are bad, while others are good. Recently, a group of patients on medicine stated that they were unable to consume a specific sort of food because it violated their religious beliefs. The foods were prescribed by the nutritionist because they had deficiencies of some nutrients in their bodies. I declined their opinion. I decided to give them the food forcibly and threatened to discharge them if they fail to eat. They ate the food, but they never liked it. According to my opinion, I made the correct decision because culture cannot bar patients eating particular types of food and a medical professional has prescribed them.
A Wrong Decision
Also, a few months ago the hospital had a shortage of drugs. I decided to give the patients the drugs without considering the level of sickness. Some patients were too sick, and there were no drugs hence they were transferred to other stations. I came to realize that the decision I made the wrong decision. It was better that while distributing the drugs patients; I should have started with the ones who were seriously sick. Again, I made another decision to take care of the abortion patients. Abortion is unethical in our religion (Potter, 50), but I just decided to take care of such patients. This is because some of the abortion patients it’s not their wish to do so.
Factors Influencing Decision Making
The factors that influenced me in making such decisions depend on the effects of the decision. For example, if do what the patient wanted then they would have gone opposite of their nutritionist. Besides that, I consider the nursing code of ethics. There some decisions which are not acceptable in our nursing profession (Potter, 100). I make decisions after checking the consequences to the patient or even to my profession.
Analytical Style of Decision Making
I used the analytical style in making the decisions. I had to analyze the effects of the making the both decisions (Maslach, 50). After careful analysis of the results then I decide to follow given route in decision-making. I usually choose the choices with fewer disadvantages.
Elements of Critical Thinking in Decision Making
The elements of the critical thinking that I used in the decision making of the bad decision include the evaluation and the foresight. I had to evaluate the consequences in my profession I do not distribute the drugs equally to many patients rather than giving the few patients who were very sick. Again, I had to predict the outcome of the choice I made.
Evaluating Decisions Based on Dangers
I would evaluate my decisions depending on the order of the dangers of making the choices. I would prefer the options with the less number of the hazards than the ones with several.
References
Butts, J. B., & Rich, K. L. (2012). Nursing ethics. Jones & Bartlett Publishers.
Maslach, C., & Jackson, S. E. (2013). A social psychological analysis. Social psychology of health and illness, 227.
Papathanassoglou, E. D., Karanikola, M. N., Kalafati, M., Giannakopoulou, M., Lemonidou, C., & Albarran, J. W. (2012). Professional autonomy, collaboration with physicians, and moral distress among European intensive care nurses. American Journal of Critical Care, 21(2), e41-e52.
Potter, P. A., Perry, A. G., Stockert, P., & Hall, A. (2016). Fundamentals of nursing. Elsevier Health Sciences.
