The relationship between task complexity and decision-making consistency.
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between task complexity and decision-making consistency using a normative decision model. The Decision Analytic Questionnaire (DAQ), an instrument designed to measure nurses' decision making under increasingly uncertain and complex conditions, was administered to a stratified random sample of 101 paid volunteer medical-surgical nurses drawn from three public teaching hospitals. Probit analysis was used to construct a profile of the decision maker whose decisions coincided with those of the model. Results indicated that nurses made clinical decisions that coincided with those recommended by a normative decision model but that agreement diminished as task complexity increased (p less than .005). The results also indicated that consistency was task specific, that predictive variables were a function of decision task and that more predictor variables were needed to explain consistency as task complexity increased.
Hughes
K K
KK
Department of Medical-Surgical Nursing, College of Nursing, University of Illinois, Chicago 60612.
Young
W B
WB
D002983:Clinical Competence; D003657:Decision Making; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D003663:Decision Trees; D004522:Educational Status; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology* / Q000592:standards; D011897:Random Allocation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis