Clinical judgment: an ethical issue.

In conclusion, the position of this paper maintains that clinical judgment is a viable, ethical issue of the highest order. Clinical judgment involves the personal orientation, the ethical framework of the one making the decision. Whatever judgment is ultimately made carries with it the burden of the maker's personal ethical approach to life, to the nature of man and finally his approach to the world at large. Clinical judgment is inseparable from ethics. It is further maintained that there must be more research into the areas of clinical judgment in relation to psychiatric nursing research. Clinical specialists, in particular, will be called on to make increasingly complex judgments. They must have a valid method to assist in the formulation, testing and analysis of their decisions. A model must be developed that assists the decision maker in: 1. Objectively identifying and specifying stimul; 2. Controlling and regulating the conditions of the judgment-making-process, intrinsic as well as extrinsic; and 3. Defining and standardizing the conditions of reporting.