Decision Making and Appropriate Problem Solving Tools Essay

Decision Making and Appropriate Problem Solving Tools - Essay Example As the manager of a county clinic faced with a budget cut, an appropriate problem-solving tool should arrive at the best decision for the scenario. This essay aims to resolve the issues through the utilization of appropriate tools in decision making. The case scenario presented the following, to wit: â€Å"you are 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?† Different studies present varying models of a typical decision-making process depending on their perspectives. Some models follow eight steps, others five. For purposes of making intuitive choices, the following six steps in decision making are utilized, in conjunction with the cause and effect approach in problem-solving. The six steps of this natural, intuitive decision-making process, according to Ethics Resource Center (2009, 1) are: â€Å"Step 1: Define the problem; Step 2: Identify available alternative solutions to the problem; Step 3: Evaluate the identified alternatives; Step 4: Make the decision; Step 5: Implement the Decision; and Step 6: Evaluate the decision†. The county clinic manager determined how to best address the delivery of healthcare services to a Medicaid population given a budget cut of 15%. The financial problem evaluates the possibility of streamlining or eliminating identified clinical services. The budget cut would have serious repercussions for the county clinic in terms of its ability to deliver the same level of quality health care as initially projected. The first step that the manager should do is to envision what would be the effects of the budget cut in addressing the health care needs of his clientele. The alternative courses of action are identified at this stage. A cause and effect analysis should detail the characteristics of the Medicaid population who would be affected by the budget cut.