DECISION-MAKING IN COMMUNITY NURSING - AN ANALYSIS OF THE STAGES OF DECISION-MAKING AS THEY RELATE TO COMMUNITY NURSING ASSESSMENT PRACTICE

This paper considers the nature of decisions made in the context of co mmunity nursing practice, in the light of the stages of decision makin g distilled by Carroll & Johnson from the work of various theorists, a nd explores the relevance of each stage to community nurses' decision making. Illustrative examples of specific theoretical perspectives are included throughout the paper. The discussion forms part of the liter ature review for research currently being undertaken by the authors in to patient assessment by community nurses. As decision making is a key element of community nurses' assessment practice, the paper argues th at decision making theory forms a useful conceptual framework for inve stigating this aspect of community nursing.