# A cluster analysis of operating room nurses’ profiles based on their clinical decision-making for pressure injury prevention

## TL;DR

This study identifies three groups of operating room nurses based on their decision-making skills for preventing pressure injuries and finds factors that influence these skills.

## Contribution

The study introduces a classification of operating room nurses based on clinical decision-making profiles for pressure injury prevention.

## Key findings

- Three clinical decision-making groups were identified: poor (40.3%), moderate (26.0%), and good (33.7%).
- Critical thinking, self-efficacy, leadership, and education influenced decision-making (all p < 0.05).
- Targeted interventions can improve decision-making based on nurse profiles.

## Abstract

To comprehend the potential categories of operating room nurses based on their clinical decision-making capability for pressure injuries and to analyze the characteristics of nurses falling under the various categories.

A cross-sectional survey was conducted from June to August 2022 using convenient sampling, with 469 operating room nurses from 12 tertiary hospitals in Shanxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Xinjiang, and Chongqing as the participants. The General Information Questionnaire, Clinical Decision-Making in Nursing Scale, Chinese Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory, Pressure Injury Management Self-Efficacy Scale, and Transformational Leadership Questionnaire were used in the survey. Clinical decisions taken by nurses in case of pressure injuries were analyzed using profiles, and the influencing factors of different categories were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression.

The clinical decision-making of operating room nurses for pressure injuries can be divided into 3 profile groups: poor clinical decision-making group (40.3%), moderate clinical decision-making group (26.0%), and good clinical decision-making group (33.7%). The influencing factors of clinical decision-making capability for pressure injuries in operating room nurses were critical thinking ability, self-efficacy, transformational leadership, and educational background (all p < 0.05).

We developed three clinical decision-making profiles of operating room nurses for pressure injuries. Nursing managers can implement targeted intervention strategies based on the characteristics of individual nurses to improve clinical decision-making.