Relation between Meta cognition and Decision Making Abilities among Head Nurses

Research Abstract

Summary Metacognition is a very important skill through which head nurses monitor decision uncertainty and consequently adjust and revise the decision, even in situations in which external feedback is not immediately available. Head nurses who can accurately assess their knowledge base, monitor, regulate, evaluate, and implement changes to cognitive strategies are able to make right and effective decisions that meet their` working units targeted outcomes and contribute to health care organizational growth. Also, metacognition can help head nurses develop better confidence by improving decision making strategies and increasing the ability to skillfully plan and implement activities in their working units. (Qiu et al., 2018 and sieck, 2018). This study was aimed to assess the relation between metacognition and decision making abilities among head nurses. Research design: A descriptive correlational design was used to conduct this study. Study setting: The study was conducted at Benha University Hospital in all Medical and Surgical units. Subjects: The study subjects were included the available head nurses and their assistants (108) who working at the above mentioned setting at the time of study and accepted to participate in the study. Two tools were used for data collection: First tool: Metacognitive Awareness Inventory: It was developed by Schraw and Dennison (1994) and modified by the investigator after reviewing the related literature (Kumar, 1998, Tanner, 2012, Yost, 2015 and Ata and Abdelwahid, (2019). It aimed to assess metacognition among head nurses. It contained two parts: Part (1): Personal data of head nurses including age, gender, department, marital status, nursing educational qualification, years of experience in nursing, years of experience as a head nurse and attend training courses in field of decision making and problem solving. Part (2): It contained 55 items divided into two major domains related to metacognition each domain divided into subscales distributed as the following: knowledge of cognition domain (declarative knowledge (8) items, procedural knowledge (4) items and conditional knowledge (5) items) and regulation of cognition domain (planning (8) items, information management strategies (11) items, monitoring (8) items, debugging strategies (5) items and evaluation (6) items). Second tool: Decision Making Abilities Scale: It was developed by Jinkins (1988) based on clinical decision making in nursing scale and modified by Abd Elghaffar (2018). It consisted of 43 items to assess decision making abilities of head nurses. It was divided into six subscales: Establishing a positive decision making environment (8) items, generating potential alternatives (7) items, evaluating the alternatives (7) items, deciding (choosing the alternatives) (8) items, checking the decision (8) items and communicating and implementing the decision (5) items. The study has generated the following findings: • Less than half (47.2%) of head nurses were had more than 35 years old. The highest percent (80.6%& 80.6%) of them were females and married. More than half (51.9%) of them were had bachelor degree. Less than two thirds (63%) of them were working in medical units. Less than half (48.1%) of them were had more than 15 years of experience in nursing. More than one third (41.7%) of them were had 10-15 years of experience as a head nurse. More than one quarter (26.9%) of them were attended training courses in field of decision making and problem solving. • The majority (83.3%) of head nurses had high level of metacognition. • The majority (84.3%) of head nurses had high level of decision making abilities. • There was statistically significant positive correlation between metacognition and decision making abilities among head nurses. According to the findings of the present study, it is recommended that: • Conduct periodic staff meeting between head nurses and their staff to allow them express their feeling, seeking opinion, exchange their experiences during different situation and getting feedback and support. • Involve metacognition into nursing curricula and focus on its importance in different aspect of nursing profession. • Conduct continues training programs for head nurses about metacognitive skills and decision making skills. • Provide head nurses with opportunities for continuous education by attending conferences and training courses. • Study the relation between meta cognition, self- directed learning and academic achievement among nursing students.

Research Keywords

Relation between Meta cognition and Decision Making Abilities among Head Nurses