The purpose of this article is to describe a step-by-step process for decision making, and a model is developed to aid health care managers in making more quality decisions, which ultimately determines the success of organizations. The DECIDE model is the acronym of 6 particular activities needed in the decision-making process: (1) D = define the problem, (2) E = establish the criteria, (3) C = consider all the alternatives, (4) I = identify the best alternative, (5) D = develop and implement a plan of action, and (6) E = evaluate and monitor the solution and feedback when necessary. The DECIDE model is intended as a resource for health care managers when applying the crucial components of decision making, and it enables managers to improve their decision-making skills, which leads to more effective decisions.

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DECIDE: a decision-making model for more effective decision making by health care managers.

Background
To improve retention in antiretroviral therapy (ART), lessons learned from chronic disease care were applied to HIV care, providing more responsibilities to patients in the care of their chronic disease. In Tete - Mozambique, patients stable on ART participate in the ART provision and peer support through Community ART Groups (CAG). This article analyses the evolution of the CAG-model during its implementation process.

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Adapting a community-based ART delivery model to the patients needs: a mixed methods research in Tete Mozambique.

Redesigning health care environments has occurred in response to cost and quality pressures. Efforts to redesign the nursing practice environment have focused on the structure and process of nursing care delivery. When redesign efforts address the structure of nursing practice systems to facilitate one important process, nurses' participation in decision making, better patient and organizational outcomes are expected. The purpose of this study was to determine if two dimensions of structure: administrative (decentralization) and professional authority (expertise) influence the process of participation in decision making for two kinds of decisions (caregiving and condition-of-work) that nurses make. The stratified sample consisted of 300 registered nurses working on medical-surgical units. Administrative and professional authority accounted for a small but significant amount of variation in participation in decision making. Because the extent of explained variation was small, the findings may challenge the prevailing assumption that greater authority for decision making results in the exercise of that authority. Redesign of the practice environment therefore must incorporate multiple factors in achieving greater participation in decision making.

The relationship of authority to decision-making behavior: implications for redesign.

The purpose of this article is to discuss core competencies that entrepreneurial health care leaders should acquire to ensure the survival and growth of US health care organizations. Three overlapping areas of core competencies are described: (1) health care system and environment competencies, (2) organization competencies, and (3) interpersonal competencies. This study offers insight into the relationship between leaders and entrepreneurship in health care organizations and establishes the foundation for more in-depth studies on leadership competencies in health care settings. The approach for identifying core competencies and designing a competency model is useful for practitioners in leadership positions in complex health care organizations, so that through the understanding and practice of these 3 areas of core competencies, they can enhance their entrepreneurial leadership skills to become more effective health care entrepreneurial leaders. This study can also be used as a tool by health care organizations to better understand leadership performance, and competencies can be used to further the organization's strategic vision and for individual improvement purposes.

http://dspace.lib.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10790/2990/1/guo.k-2009-0013.pdf

Core competencies of the entrepreneurial leader in health care organizations.

"November 2010"%%%%%%%%Bibliography: p. 225-250.%%%%Introduction  – Literature review  – Research methodology  – Data preparation and factor analysis  – Hypothesis testing and research findings  – Discussion and conclusions%%%%Employee engagement has long been regarded as important to business performance. Numerous consultants and some academic researchers report a strong link between employee engagement and organizational performance, while other studies have suggested that up to 80 percent of workers are 'not engaged' or 'disengaged' at their workplace. Gallup estimated that disengaged workers cost US business $270-343 billion per year because of low productivity, making the topic of how to increase employee engagement of great interest to leaders and human resource practitioners. Yet, despite the practical importance of understanding employee engagement better, relatively little research has been conducted into this field by academic researchers.  – To gain insight into how to enhance employee engagement levels, this study investigated the relationship between employee engagement and four perceived leadership styles - classical, transactional, visionary (transformational or charismatic), and organic (distributed). Much of the literature emphasizes that follower characteristics also influence the leader-follower relationship and, in this thesis, the roles of three employee characteristics were examined: employees' need for achievement, equity sensitivity, and need for clarity.  – A sample of 439 sales assistants in Sydney, Australia, completed a questionnaire survey. Multiple item scales measured leadership styles, employee engagement, and the three moderator variables of employee characteristics. Structural Equation Modeling was used for factor, path, and multi-group analyses.  – Overall, the results suggest that employee engagement is associated with an employee's perception of leadership style in his/her direct supervisor - negatively when classical or transactional leadership styles are perceived, and positively in the case of visionary or organic leadership. Moreover, the three employee characteristics moderate the relationship between perceived leadership styles and employee engagement in different ways. Regarding need for achievement, the higher employees' score on this variable is, the weaker the negative association is between employee engagement and classical or transactional leadership, and the stronger the positive association is between perceived visionary or organic leadership styles and employee engagement. By contrast, the higher equity sensitivity is, the stronger is the negative association between perceived classical or transactional leadership styles and employee engagement, and the weaker is the positive association between visionary or organic leadership and employee engagement. Finally, the higher employees' need for clarity is, the weaker is the negative association found between perceptions of classical or transactional leadership and employee engagement, whereas where employees' need for…

The relationship between perceived leadership styles and employee engagement: the moderating role of employee characteristics

Management Principles for Health Professionals is a practical guide for new or future practicing healthcare managers. The customary activities of the manager-planning, organizing, decision making, staffing, motivating, and budgeting-are succinctly defined, explained, and presented with detailed examples drawn from a variety of health care settings. Students will learn proven management concepts, techniques, models, and tools for managing individuals or teams with skill and ease. The Sixth Edition is loaded with all-new examples from real-world healthcare settings and covers many current topics such as: ? Emerging implications of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. ? A template to track the areas of impact of this major law is presented; this enables a manager to identify the topics to monitor and to prepare responses to changes as they unfold. ? Developments concerning electronic health record initiatives ? Adapting and revitalizing one's career; ? Information concerning various staffing alternatives such as outsourcing and telecommuting, and updates the material concerning job descriptions and their application. New material has been added in the section on consultant's contracts and reports. ? Patient privacy and the detection and prevention of medical identity theft, and much more.

Joan Gratto Liebler

Papers

Management Principles for Health Professionals