An overview of decision making in veterinary nursing

Abstract

Decision making takes place in all aspects of veterinary care. Throughout any consultation, work up, hospitalisation or ongoing home care, decisions need to be made about the next step to be taken. Clinical decision making is influenced by many different factors including past experience, emotions, owner wishes, financial concerns and communication skills. Within the veterinary team, it is important that everyone understands the factors influencing decisions. Decision making can follow a paternalistic, guardian or shared approach, which tends to be dominant in veterinary practice. Where practices adopt standard operating procedures, the use of clinical evidence and clear non-biased decisions need to be made.

The Development of a Veterinary Nurse-Client Communication Matrix

“…Nurses are viewed as facilitators of SDM in a study examining barriers and enablers of SDM in human medicine (Joseph-Williams, Elwyn and Edwards, 2014). Consultation skills for veterinary nurses involved in decision-making support for clients, for example in palliative care or chronic disease situations, could usefully include some SDM skills, as proposed by Fraser (2019).…”