DECISION MALTING OF NURSES PRACTICING IN INTENSIVE-CARE IN CANADA, FINLAND, NORTHERN-IRELAND, SWITZERLAND, AND THE UNITED-STATES

In this study, our intention was to describe the decision making of nu rses practicing in intensive care, and the differences of nurses' deci sion making in Canada, Finland, Northern Ireland, Switzerland, and the United States. The instrument used in the study was a 56-item Likert- type questionnaire that has been used in previous studies and has prov ed to be a reliable tool. The target group comprised a nonrandom sampl e of nurses (N = 314) from five countries. The samples are not represe ntative; therefore, the results in these cases cannot be generalized. The results showed that the decision making of nurses practicing in in tensive care was broadly based, and that there were some country diffe rences in data collection, problem definition, and planning. In contra st, decision making related to the implementation and evaluation of nu rsing is quite similar in the different countries. Canada and the Unit ed Slates on the one hand, and Finland, Northern Ireland, and Switzerl and on the other, showed more similarities with each other in data col lection, problem definition, and nursing planning related to decision making. Neither experience nor nurse's knowledge structure was associa ted with different decision-making approaches.