Public health nurses' decision making in Canada, Finland, Norway, and the United States.

The purpose of this study was to describe the decision-making processes of 369 public health nurses in Canada, Finland, Norway, and the United States, and to discuss any differences observed among these countries. The results indicate that public health nurses used different decision-making models on the job and that these models varied considerably. Five different decision-making models were identified, each exhibiting features of different decision-making theories. The differences between decision making of public health nurses in different countries were statistically significant. The differences in decision making appear to be due to differences in health care systems in the 4 countries and the nature of the nursing task and context.