Decision Making Case Study
Decision Making Case Study
Stefanie Parker
HCS/514
June 24, 2011
Kendra Slatton
Decision Making Case Study
The standard definition of decision making is; the process of mapping the likely consequences of decisions, working out the importance of individual factors and choosing the best course of action to take ("Definition of decision,"). In this case study effective decision making tools will be used to choose the best course of action to take in the scenario. The scenario is; as a manager in a county clinic that provides care to Medicaid clients, your department budget was recently cut by 15%. From a statewide health policy standpoint, given a defined budget constraint what clinical services should be eliminated or introduced to best address healthcare needs of a Medicaid population.
Rundall et al developed a tool they call the Informed Decisions Toolbox or IDT, which they suggest will help make better evidence-informed management decisions. Evidence-informed decision-making is the process of gathering and analyzing the best evidence available and making an informed decision based on that knowledge (National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools [NCCMT], n.d.). The process of evidence-informed decision-making involves six steps. Each of these six steps can be used as a tool for improving decision-making. The six steps include framing the question, finding sources of information, assessing the accuracy of the evidence, assessing the applicability of the evidence, assessing the “actionability” of the evidence, and determining if the information is adequate (Rundall et al., 2007). As manager of this case study clinic, I would find these tools very valuable in determining which services to add or remove to meet the budget goal of the organization. These steps form a process or a checklist of action items for reaching an informed decision. The tool that would be the most valuable to me as the clinic manager would be step number
Stefanie Parker
HCS/514
June 24, 2011
Kendra Slatton
Decision Making Case Study
The standard definition of decision making is; the process of mapping the likely consequences of decisions, working out the importance of individual factors and choosing the best course of action to take ("Definition of decision,"). In this case study effective decision making tools will be used to choose the best course of action to take in the scenario. The scenario is; as a manager in a county clinic that provides care to Medicaid clients, your department budget was recently cut by 15%. From a statewide health policy standpoint, given a defined budget constraint what clinical services should be eliminated or introduced to best address healthcare needs of a Medicaid population.
Rundall et al developed a tool they call the Informed Decisions Toolbox or IDT, which they suggest will help make better evidence-informed management decisions. Evidence-informed decision-making is the process of gathering and analyzing the best evidence available and making an informed decision based on that knowledge (National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools [NCCMT], n.d.). The process of evidence-informed decision-making involves six steps. Each of these six steps can be used as a tool for improving decision-making. The six steps include framing the question, finding sources of information, assessing the accuracy of the evidence, assessing the applicability of the evidence, assessing the “actionability” of the evidence, and determining if the information is adequate (Rundall et al., 2007). As manager of this case study clinic, I would find these tools very valuable in determining which services to add or remove to meet the budget goal of the organization. These steps form a process or a checklist of action items for reaching an informed decision. The tool that would be the most valuable to me as the clinic manager would be step number
References: Definition of decision making. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.decision-making-confidence.com/definition-of-decision-making.html Health-evidence.ca. (n.d.). Tools to support evidence-informed decision making. Retrieved 1/17/2010, from http://health-evidence.ca/tools National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools. (n.d.). Evidence-informed public health. Retrieved 1/17/2010, from http://www.nccmt.ca/eiph/index-eng.html Rundall, T. G., Marte, P. F., Arroyo, L., McCurdy, R., Graetz, L., Neuwirth, E. B., Curtis, P., ... Hsu, J. (2007). The informed decision toolbox: Tools for knowledge transfer and performance improvement. Journal of Healthcare Management, 52(5), 325-342.