Investigating the Relationship Between Emotional Regulation and Decision-Making Under Pressure in Nursing Practice

Posted: Nov 15, 2023

• Georgia Ford
• Tyler Stone
• Sabrina Adams

Abstract

The nursing profession represents a unique intersection of technical expertise, interpersonal skill, and emotional labor, where practitioners routinely navigate high-stakes decisions amid intense emotional circumstances. While substantial research has examined clinical decision-making processes and emotional intelligence separately, the specific mechanisms through which emotional regulation strategies influence decision-making accuracy in nursing practice remain inadequately understood. This study addresses this critical gap by investigating how different emotional regulation approaches affect clinical judgment during pressure-intensive scenarios. Our research introduces several novel contributions to the literature. First, we differentiate between antecedent-focused and response-focused emotional regulation strategies specifically within nursing contexts, examining how each approach distinctly influences clinical decision pathways. Second, we develop and validate a multi-method assessment protocol that captures real-time interactions between emotional states and decision processes during simulated clinical emergencies. Third, we identify and characterize an optimal emotional regulation zone that maximizes decision-making accuracy while avoiding the cognitive costs of both under-regulation and over-regulation.