Background: Nurses use knowledge, skills and critical thinking to make the effective
decisions that enable them to provide care in a variety of traditional and expanding nursing
roles. The rapid changes in health care environment have expanded the decision-making role
of the nurse. Therefore, one of the emphasized goals of nursing education is to increase and
improve learners' thinking and decision-making skills. Aim of the study: The study aims to
identify the effect of a decision making training program on knowledge and skills of fourth
year nursing students. Setting: The study was conducted at the Faculty of Nursing, Zagazig
University. Subjects: A total of 338 nursing students, enrolled in the fourth year at the time of
the study, during the academic year 2011-2012 were recruited for the study. Of these, 125
students (18 males & 107 females) agreed to participate. Three tools were used for data
collection. They included;1) The knowledge questionnaire sheet,2) Five situations about
decision-making, and 3)Students' decision-making evaluation sheet. Results: Before
implementation of the program, all students (100%) had inadequate knowledge and the
highest percentage of them (84.8%) had unsatisfactory practices regarding decision-making.
After the implementation of the program, most of students (92.8%) had adequate knowledge
and more than half of them (55.2%) had satisfactory practices immediately after
implementation the program. However, these percentages dropped to 65.6% and 51.2%
respectively in the follow-up test. There are statistically significant correlations between
students' knowledge and practices scores in the post and follow-up tests. Conclusion and
recommendation: The findings led to the conclusion that such training is effective in
improving students' knowledge and practices about decision making. In the light of the
findings, it is recommended to incorporate such training in Nursing Faculty curricula, with
more use of appropriate educational and clinical strategies to foster critical thinking and
decision-making skills.