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. 2025 Feb;34(2):507-516.
doi: 10.1111/jocn.17374. Epub 2024 Jul 15.

Prevalence and characteristics of the 'bad feeling' among healthcare professionals in the context of emergency situations: A Bi-Hospital Survey

Carlos Ramon Hölzing  1 , Julia van der Linde  1 , Stephan Kersting  1 , Alexandra Busemann  1
Affiliations

Prevalence and characteristics of the 'bad feeling' among healthcare professionals in the context of emergency situations: A Bi-Hospital Survey

Carlos Ramon Hölzing et al. J Clin Nurs. 2025 Feb.

Abstract

Introduction: Clinical decision-making is based on objective and subjective criteria, including healthcare workers impressions and feelings. This research examines the perception and implications of a 'bad feeling' experienced by healthcare professionals, focusing on its prevalence and characteristics.

Methods: A cross-sectional paper-based survey was conducted from January to July 2023 at the University Medicine Greifswald and the hospital Sömmerda involving physicians, nurses, medical students and trainees from various specialties. With ethics committee approval, participants were recruited and surveyed at regular clinical events. Data analysis was performed using SPSS® Statistics. The manuscript was written using the Strobe checklist.

Results: Out of 250 questionnaires distributed, 217 were valid for analysis after a 94.9% return rate and subsequent exclusions. Sixty-five per cent of respondents experience the 'bad feeling' occasionally to frequently. There was a significant positive correlation between the frequency of 'bad feeling' and work experience. The predominant cause of this feeling was identified as intuition, reported by 79.8% of participants, with 80% finding it often helpful in their clinical judgement. Notably, in 16.1% of cases, the 'bad feeling' escalated in the further clinical course into an actual emergency. Furthermore, 60% of respondents indicated that this feeling occasionally or often serves as an early indicator of a potential, yet unrecognised, emergency in patient care.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates the relevance of clinical experience to decision-making. As an expression of this, there is a correlation between the frequency of a 'bad feeling' and the number of years of experience. It is recommended that the 'bad feeling' be deliberately acknowledged and reinforced as an early warning signal for emergency situations, given its significant implications for patient safety. Future initiatives could include advanced training and research, as well as tools such as pocket maps, to better equip healthcare professionals in responding to this intuition.

Keywords: clinical decision‐making; early warning signals; emergency situations; healthcare professionals; intuition; patient care; patient safety.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Paper‐based questionnaire on the ‘bad feeling'.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Frequency of helpfulness and hindrance of the ‘bad feeling’ in comparison between the health care professionals. [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Reason for ‘bad feeling’ as a percentage per health care professional. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001. [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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