Critical Thinking and Clinical Decision Making Among Registered Nurses in Clinical Practice: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Critical thinking is fundamental for registered nurses (RNs) when making clinical decisions, which impact patient outcomes. This review aimed to identify studies on critical thinking and clinical decision making among nurses in clinical practice and synthesize their findings based on the regional area, observed findings, and predictive factors, and to assess the measurement tools used. : A comprehensive search of the PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, and SCOPUS databases up to December 2024 was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale was used to assess the quality of included studies. Studies with similarly themed components were grouped for narrative synthesis. A meta-analysis of random-effects model calculations was performed. : This review included forty studies (twenty-four on CT, twelve on CDM, four on both) from various WHO regions, revealing diverse findings on observed skills. Ten CT and four CDM measurement tools were identified. Many studies also explored individual and group-level predictive factors for these skills. Meta-analyses of four common tools (CCTDI, NCT4P, CDMNS, and NDMI) showed significant heterogeneity, with statistically significant pooled mean scores. : The synthesis highlights the global research on nurses' critical thinking and clinical decision making, including the exploration of various predictive factors. However, the significant heterogeneity in the findings from meta-analyses of commonly used measurement tools underscores a need for more standardized measurement and analytical approaches, such as multilevel modeling, to better account for the hierarchical nature of potential predictive factors (individual and group levels), which would allow for more reliable comparisons and stronger conclusions in this field.