Title : Promoting Clinical Judgment (CJ) in the hospital practice settings: A conversation with nurses

The concept of clinical judgment applied in hospital practice settings is of critical concern. For the use of CJ implies that data is observed, collected, and analyzed thereby leading to improved healthcare outcomes. This is something that we all strive for in our hospital practice settings and yet in reality, CJ remains an enigma. Why does this occur? What factors impact the ability to utilize CJ? Can we utilize our experience to enhance CJ? How can we use strategies to effective use of CJ in hospital practice settings. There is a myriad of nurses/healthcare providers practicing in the hospital coming from diverse backgrounds, academic training, and clinical experience and yet the CJ clinical judgment experience in hospital practice settings is decidedly inconsistent. Why is it that there are interactions of little substance such as when you are asking someone a question about a patient’s clinical status and there are sometimes responses like: “I don’t know, I just got here, or I just got report but don’t know.” Additional mitigating factors impacting clinical judgment include workload, staffing patterns, EHR documentation and organizational constraints. This conversation will take at how all these factors correlating them with evidence-based research findings to analyze common themes. Then attention will be focused on how we can promote improved healthcare outcomes in the use of CJ while providing delivery of care. A framework approach for CJ will be presented.

Dr. Daryle Wane holds a PhD in Nursing Science and an MSN in Nursing from University of South Florida with undergraduate degrees in nursing and nutrition. She is a Board-Certified Family Nurse Practitioner. After 32 years in academia, Dr. Wane is a Nurse Consultant.  She has published numerous supplements in textbooks as well as journal articles, continues to serve as an editorial board member and peer reviewer for several journal publications. She is also a member of Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Honor society and a CCNE site evaluator.