Nurses’ decision-making style in hospital settings

OBJECTIVES: to analyze nurses' decision-making styles in hospital settings and to associate their sociodemographic and occupational profiles with their decision-making styles. METHODS: this is a quantitative, analytical study conducted with 181 nurses from a public university hospital in southern Brazil. A sociodemographic and occupational data collection instrument and the Melbourne Decision-Making Questionnaire were used. RESULTS: the vigilant decision-making style was widely practiced, while hypervigilant, procrastinating, and buck-passing were less frequent. Nurses who self-identified as black, brown, and yellow were more likely to adopt the vigilance style. Working the afternoon shift was more likely to be associated with the procrastination style. CONCLUSIONS: the decision-making process can be affected by participants' personal and occupational variables, as well as by situational aspects in which nurses are inserted, both in the work and social environments.