DECISION-MAKING

Decision-Making Case Study

Decision-Making Case Study

Stoddard County Public Health Clinic is located on Highway 25, North of Bloomfield, Missouri. The clinic provides services to infant and child; young and middle aged adults; older adults; environmental services; and group/community services. When the 2009 budget cuts were distributed among the different departments, the manager of the Young and Middle Aged Adult Department noted a 15% budget cut(Liebler, 2008). This paper is a case study of how the Young and Middle Aged Adult Department Manager will decide what tools she will use to decide which clinical service should be eliminated or introduced to better serve the Medicaid population at while at the same time make a 15% cut in its budget.

Clinic Services Available and Staffing The services available for the Young and Middle Aged Adult Department includes: breast and cervical screening project, anemia screening, sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy testing, immunizations, nutrition education, W.I.C, women's health screenings, high risk pregnancy counseling and case management for prenatal (Stoddard, 2008). Staffing for the department includes: Department Manager; 2 full-time LPNs to perform screenings, draw blood samples and administer immunizations; 1 full-time nutritionist for the nutrition education; and 1 RN Case Manager to manage the women's health screenings, high risk pregnancy counseling. The clerical staff is shared among the entire clinic.

The Department Manager looked at the year-to-date information for each service provided under her department with the thought of possibly eliminating a service to make up for the 15% budget cut (Khong, 2007). Upon reviewing the all statistics concerning frequency of use and after surveying all staff members within the clinic, it was determined that each service was very important to the Medicaid recipients of Stoddard County. One suggestion from a staff member was to convert one of the full-time LPN positions to a part-time position and starting a clinical volunteer program (Stoddard, 2008).

Another position that could be changed from full-time to part-time is the Nutritionist. Statistics have shown that her services are only needed 4 hours a day instead of the full 8 hours. The volunteers would be clinically proficient and could conduct the screenings that are very popular within Stoddard County. In order for the decision to be made, the Department Manager will need to make a decision to use a decision making analysis tool.

The Informed Decisions Toolbox One option for the department manager can use to make a decision on how to manage a 15% budget cut for her clinic, is to use The Informed Decisions Toolbox developed by Thomas G. Rundall, PhD and his associates (University Of Phoenix, 2008). The toolbox is divided into six steps to help managers make an informed decision. The six steps include: Step 1: Framing the question behind the decision; Step 2: Finding sources of information; Step 3: Assessing the accuracy of information; Step 4: Assessing the applicability of information; Step 5: Assessing the action ability of information; Step 6: Determining if the information is adequate (University Of Phoenix, 2008).

Step 1: Framing the Question behind the Decision Before ...