Omsorgsfuld klinisk beslutningstagen: en relationel proces

Background: Nurses make clinical decisions every day. Several models provide insights into clinical decision-making; however, the complexity of decision-making and the nature of the nurse-patient interaction have been described to a lesser extent.
Aim: To understand the actions of nurses in clinical decision-making in interaction with patients and relatives.
Methods: A constructivist grounded theory. Data was generated at an orthopedic ward, a rehabilitation ward and municipal home nursing by participant observations, informal interviews, face-to-face interviews and focus-group interviews.
Results: The findings are presented as a theory of caring clinical decision-making, presupposed in a trustful nurse-patient relationship. The theory shows that nurses harmonize the uniqueness of the situation and intentional structures using two strategies in their interaction with patients: reflective partnership and dynamic decision-making responsibility.
Conclusion: Caring clinical decision-making implies a triple mutual interaction between the elements of the theory. The emerged theory is useful as a key to reflection about caring clinical decision-making.