Research Paper on:
Decision Making Methodology Project Final Report

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
http://www.wsu.edu/~amerstu/pop/hist.html and found only a brief description of what historical analysis is.] a. Executive Summary This project was conducted at the UF&Shands orthopedic ambulatory services in Jacksonville Florida. This  facility is an orthopedic ambulatory service clinic. The clinic sees between 100 and 200 patients each week. The presenting problems emphasized patient waiting time: the amount of time patients waited  in the waiting room; the amount of time it took for patients to see the triage nurse and supply and demand. One thought was an imbalance in supply and demand,  too many patients for the amount of services that could be provided. In order to identify the problems, it was necessary to review how the system worked. What steps  did staff and patients have to take during the process. Presenting problems are typically symptoms or the outcomes of the real problem. Thus, the existing process needed to be reviewed  and analyzed. During the first staff meeting, a flow map was constructed. This showed the actual steps in the process. Because the group wanted to assure they had not forgotten  anything, during the following week, staff members added sticky notes adding to the original map whenever they thought of something not included. The map was reviewed at the second  staff meeting. The number of steps and activities required an entire wall and it was immediately clear that the process being used was far more complex than it needed to  be. The problem could then be identified as a process that was just too complex with too many steps. The recommendation was to simplify the process. This will involve  eliminating redundancies and meaningless steps in the process. Consensus decision making was used throughout the project, first in gaining total commitment from all staff to investigate the problem and fix