Therefore, it is important to establish the psychometric properties of existing measures of intuition in nursing and to connect nursing intuition to measures of intuition used in psychology. Psychologists have most commonly measured intuition as a domain-general, self-reported personality construct using the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI; Myers et al. 1998). The Intuitive/Sensate subscale reflects an individual’s preference for imagination, possibility and abstract relationships over reality and concrete facts, while the Thinking/Feeling subscale measures an individual’s preference for logic in making decisions as opposed to a reliance on emotions. More recently, the Rational-Experiential Inventory (REI; Pacini & Epstein 1999) was introduced as a measure of preference for rational/analytical versus intuitive/experiential thinking.
Nursing educators have emphasised the role of critical thinking in clinical judgement, but intuition may also be a valuable tool in clinical settings. Critical thinking skills should facilitate logical reasoning about clinical cases and translate into increased clinical competence, though evidence for this direct link is mixed (Brunt 2005). Extensive research on statistical models of clinical judgement has shown mathematical formulas are often more accurate than human intuition (Dawes et al. 1989). However, research on judgement and decision making has shown that intuition and analysis are both valuable cognitive strategies and their appropriateness depends on factors such as task complexity and level of experience (Hammond et al. 1987, Klein 1998, Pretz 2011).