The decision making process
Clinical decision making will typically follow a process moving from gathering the necessary information through to the final decision and outcome. This should not be seen as an entirely linear process as one step can inform another, and you may move to jump to another step based on new information that emerges.
- Using cues and gathering and analysing patient data systematically through direct observations, listening to the patient's story and their concerns, reviewing patient records, examining lab results, using decision making tools and assessment data and looking at for example atypical responses.
- Making judgements on the patient data on what you think could be happening, looking for patterns, assessing your information needs and who can provide you with the missing information, looking for the evidence to support what you think may be happening, assessing who you should involve or consult, using your own intuition - the 'red' flags, your 'gut' feeling based on your experience in the area - to make judgments and prioritise these judgements based on the current patient, the situation and the environment in which you are operating.
- Making decisions: deciding what to do and how to do it, deciding who might need to be informed and consulted. This can include colleagues, and of course the patient/client involved in the centre of decision making.
- Evaluating Outcomes: evaluating the outcome of the decision to determine if the desired outcome has been achieved. Again this stage may involve consulting with others, or finding out additional information to make further judgements and decisions.