RATIONALE: There is a pressing need for guidance on how to incorporate economic information into evidence-based decision-making. Such guidance should take account of the quality and relevance of economic evaluations. OBJECTIVE: To summarize lessons learned in integrating information from decision analyses and cost-effectiveness analyses. KEY ISSUES: Several methods used by ...

When making decisions, people have been found predominantly to seek information supporting their preferred choice and to neglect conflicting information. In this article, the authors investigate to what extent different types of advisors, who recommend a choice to someone or make a decision on behalf of someone, show the same ...

PURPOSE: The authors performed a structured literature review to understand residents' experiences with end-of-life (EOL) decision making with adult hospitalized patients, specifically regarding decisions to withhold or withdraw advanced life-support measures. METHOD: An Ovid-based strategy was used to search Medline, ERIC, PsychINFO, and CINHAL databases for articles published between 1966 ...

Individual animals routinely face decisions that are crucial to their fitness. In social species, however, many of these decisions need to be made jointly with other group members because the group will split apart unless a consensus is reached. Here, we review empirical and theoretical studies of consensus decision making, ...

The use of data in decision-making by the Massachusetts Prevention Planning Group (MPPG) was assessed using multiple methods: in-depth interviews, member surveys, directed observations, and archival review. Three factors known to influence group decision-making were of interest: (1) member characteristics, (2) group structure, and (3) data inputs. Membership characteristics were ...

This paper describes an analytical methodology for obtaining statistically unbiased outcomes estimates for programs in which participation decisions may be correlated with variables that impact outcomes. This methodology is particularly useful for intraorganizational program evaluations conducted for business purposes. In this situation, data is likely to be available for a ...

Evidence-Based Dental Practice (EBDP) is the most appropriate and best patient-centered care because it uses the evidence derived from interdisciplinary resources. These resources include the integration of the clinical and basic science researcher, clinician, and patient in the clinical decision-making process. Best evidence has different meanings to each of the ...

BACKGROUND: Oral examinations are a popular method of assessment within medicine, being capable of measuring candidates' ability to carry out tasks or develop skills (operational knowledge). One example of this is the oral examination for membership of the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), which is designed to assess candidates' ...

BACKGROUND: The number needed to treat (NNT) has been promoted as the preferred effect measure when patients and physicians share decision making. Our aim was to explore the impact of the NNT on laypeople's decisions about preventive drug therapies. METHODS: Two thousand subjects were selected for the survey; 1201 (60%) ...

Summary In summary, we found that federal agencies have taken steps to improve collaboration as a way to reduce conflicts that often occur between species protections and other resource uses, but that more could be done to promote routine use of collaboration and clarify agencies' responsibilities under the Endangered Species ...

In a recent paper, Lee et al. examined adaptive decision-making processes by training monkeys to play a competitive game against a computer programmed to play using various strategies. They found that the monkeys' responses were sensitive to the computer's strategies and consistent with reinforcement learning. Research such as this strongly ...

To make adaptive decisions, animals must evaluate the costs and benefits of available options. The nascent field of neuroeconomics has set itself the ambitious goal of understanding the brain mechanisms that are responsible for these evaluative processes. A series of recent neurophysiological studies in monkeys has begun to address this ...

There are now five classic steps for analysis of diagnostic and therapeutic medical decision-making policies: (1) formulate a clear clinical question based on a particular patient's problem; (2) search the literature for relevant clinical articles; (3) evaluate the evidence for its validity and usefulness; (4) implement useful findings into clinical ...

The quasi-option value (QOV) literature originated by Arrow et al. (Arrow, K.J., Fisher, A.C., 1974. Environmental preservation, uncertainty, and irreversibility. Quarterly Journal of Economics 88, 312-319) and by Henry (Henry, C., 1974. Option values in the economics of irreplaceable assets. Review of Economic Studies 41, 89-104) is largely concerned with ...

Many computer applications have been developed in radiology and other medical disciplines to help physicians make decisions. Artificial intelligence (AI)--an approach to computer-based manipulation of symbols to simulate human reasoning--forms the basis of many of these systems. This article's goals are to: acquaint the reader with the motivations and opportunities ...

Decision making in environmental projects can be complex and seemingly intractable, principally because of the inherent trade-offs between sociopolitical, environmental, ecological, and economic factors. The selection of appropriate remedial and abatement strategies for contaminated sites, land use planning, and regulatory processes often involves multiple additional criteria such as the distribution ...

Successful implementation of home telehealth programs require unique skills and personality traits of professionals driving the program. Understanding these traits and skills, and how they predict performance will help staff recognize superior applicants when recruiting individuals for such positions. An extensive literature review ties research published on human factors, what ...

Utilization of long-acting antipsychotic injections (depots) shows wide regional variation. In many countries, community psychiatric nurses (CPNs) administer depots but their concerns and attitudes regarding these drugs are seldom considered. We aimed to investigate attitudes and knowledge towards depots in a cross-sectional survey of CPNs in London, and compare them ...

Citizens employ a range of heuristic devices in reaching judgments and making evaluations regarding political candidates and issues. This paper examines the circumstances that lead to the use of multiple and potentially competing heuristics in making complex decisions. In our analysis, subjects systematically demonstrate evidence of confusion regarding particular combinations ...

BACKGROUND: Among adults with intellectual disabilities (IDs), there is a need not only to assess financial decision-making capacity, but also to understand how it can be maximized. Although increased financial independence is a goal for many people, it is essential that individuals' decision-making abilities are sufficient, and many factors may ...

The study follows up on the contention that self-controlled feedback schedules benefit learning because they are more tailored to the performers' needs than externally controlled feedback schedules (Chiviacowsky & Wulf, 2002). Under this assumption, one would expect learning advantages for individuals who decide whether they want to receive feedback after ...

BACKGROUND: Although there has been growing recognition of the importance of enabling people with intellectual disabilities (ID) to be more directly involved in managing their own financial affairs, so far, little is known about this aspect of their decision- making. METHOD: Using vignettes and semi-structured interviews, the financial decision-making abilities ...

Many clients in optometry practice have reported that they do not receive sufficient information from practitioners to make informed purchasing decisions for corrective spectacles. The aim of this study was to identify participants' attitudes and beliefs towards visiting an optician and purchasing spectacles, to compare clients' and practitioners' perceptions of ...

This paper applies a theory-driven approach to explore why the use of patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures in clinical practice, in particular, health-related quality of life (HRQoL) instruments, has little or no apparent influence on clinical decision making. A theory-driven approach involves combining knowledge of whether and how an intervention works. ...

The CEO succession process is broken. Many companies have no meaningful succession plans, and few of the ones that do are happy with them. CEO tenure is shrinking; in fact, two out of five CEOs fail in their first 18 months. It isn't just that more CEOs are being replaced; ...

BACKGROUND: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2003 in the Gratz et al. v. Bollinger et al. and the Grutter v. Bollinger et al. cases that affirmative action selection policies aimed at student diversity in higher and professional education are acceptable on constitutional grounds. The court also ruled that "holistic," ...

The substantial debt load of new dentists is part of the recent trend toward beginning practice as an associate, in a postdoctoral general dentistry program, or in the military. Other reasons include an opportunity to build clinical speed, learning practice management skills, and earning a guaranteed income. While today's new ...

This study investigated the control strategies and decision making of drivers who were executing overtaking maneuvers in a fixed-base driving simulator. It was found that drivers were frequently inaccurate in deciding whether it was safe to overtake in front of an oncoming vehicle. One source of error in this situation ...

This paper focuses upon an exploration of undergraduate students' perceptions of clinical decision-making skills in their final year of a baccalaureate adult nursing programme. A phenomenological study was carried out, with a sample of 21 students undertaking their nursing management module. They produced a consensus concept mapping of clinical decision-making ...

Photosynthetic microorganisms can produce hydrogen when illuminated, and there has been considerable interest in developing this to a commercially viable process. Its appealing aspects include the fact that the hydrogen would come from water, and that the process might be more energetically efficient than growing, harvesting, and processing crops. We ...

The KPMG ''Mega Study'' (Brown JP, Silverman JD. The current and future market for veterinarians and veterinary medical services in the United States. J Am Vet Med Assoc 215:161-183, 1999) and other studies (Cron WL, Slocum JV, Goodnight DB, Volk JO. Impact of management practices and business behaviors on small ...

Genetically modified plants (GMPs) may soon be cultivated commercially in several member countries of the European Union (EU). According to EU Directive 2001/18/EC, post-market monitoring (PMM) for commercial GMP cultivation must be implemented, in order to detect and prevent adverse effects on human health and the environment. However, no general ...

BACKGROUND: Important barriers to the wider implementation of shared decision making remain. The experiences of professionals who are skilled in this approach may identify how to overcome these barriers. AIMS: To identify the experiences and views of professionals skilled in shared decision making and risk communication, exploring the opportunities and ...

Brazil's Samuel Dam, which formed a 540-km2 reservoir in the state of Rondônia in 1988, provides lessons for development decisions throughout Amazonia and in other tropical areas. The decision to build the dam was heavily influenced by its role in the political strategies of key decision makers. Samuel illustrates both ...

Given the potential role of economic information in healthcare decision making, it is of interest to assess its influence on decisions at a national or regional level (macro level), at a healthcare facility level (meso level) and at the healthcare provider level (micro level). This literature review summarises 36 empirical ...

The assessment of scholarship assumes a central role in the evaluation of individual faculty, educational programs and academic fields. Because the production and assessment of scholarship is so central to the faculty role, it is incumbent upon decision makers to strive to make assessments of scholarship fair and equitable. This ...

The Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt is planning a new accelerator Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR). Two future experimental areas are regarded to be the most decisive points concerning the activation of air. One is the area for the production of antiprotons. A second crucial experimental area is ...

Health plans often deliberate covering technologies with challenging purposes, effects, or costs. They must integrate quantitative evidence (e.g., how well a technology works) with qualitative, normative assessments (e.g., whether it works well enough for a worthwhile purpose). Arguments from analogy and precedent help integrate these criteria and establish standards for ...

Statistical decision theory can provide useful support for climate change decisions made under conditions of uncertainty. However, the probability distributions used to calculate expected costs in decision theory are themselves subject to uncertainty, disagreement, or ambiguity in their specification. This imprecision can be described using sets of probability measures, from ...

Efforts to improve decision making must appeal to some source of warrant - that is, specific criteria or models for guiding and evaluating decision-making performance. We examine and compare the warrants for two approaches to decision aids, decision training, and consulting: analytically based prescription, which obtains warrant from formal models, ...

Support Vector Machine (SVM) is a new learning technique based on Statistical Learning Theory (SLT). In this paper, a Medical Diagnosis Decision System (MDDSS) based on SVM has been established to intellectively diagnose 4 types of acid-base disturbance. SVM was originally developed for two-class classification. It is extended to solve ...

OBJECTIVES: A review of the Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research's (AHFMR) 6-month Health Technology Skills Development Program was undertaken within an international context with the purpose of describing and assessing the current program, further formalizing the program based on identified opportunities for improvement, and enhancing collaborative linkages with other ...

Some employers have begun to undertake a variety of initiatives, collectively termed value-based purchasing (VBP), which aim at factoring quality into the purchasing decision-making process when negotiating costs with providers and insurers. There is evidence that the VBP movement has begun gaining momentum; yet it is unclear whether employers are ...

Performance indicators implemented in a decision support system (DSS) for the technical, managerial and economic evaluation of urban drainage systems (UDS), called MOMA FD, are presented. Several kinds of information are collected and processed by MOMA FD to evaluate both present situation and future scenarios of development and enhancement. Particular ...

The legitimacy of procedures and criteria for determining benefit packages depends crucially on the representation of stakeholders in decision-making bodies, the transparency of procedures and the consistency of benefit decisions. Moreover, the assessment of the costs of healthcare services and its application as a decision criterion can be an important ...

This review examines the development and application of strategic environmental assessment (SEA) process in the planning framework of Hong Kong. Two strategic planning case studies are evaluated within the context of SEA, namely the Territorial Development Strategy Review (TDS Review) and the Third Comprehensive Transport Study (CTS-3). Rapid population growth ...

The control and treatment of urban and highway runoff involves a variety of stakeholders in the selection of sustainable drainage systems (SUDS) as the design process needs to consider not only water quantity but also water quality and amenity. Thus, technical, environmental/ecological, social/community and economic cost factors become prime potential ...

Animals living in a dynamic environment must adjust their decision-making strategies through experience. To gain insights into the neural basis of such adaptive decision-making processes, we trained monkeys to play a competitive game against a computer in an oculomotor free-choice task. The animal selected one of two visual targets in ...

OBJECTIVE: The main objective of this article is to evaluate and describe instruments for assessing decision-making capacity in psychiatry and psychogeriatrics, and to evaluate them for use in daily practice. METHODS: The instruments were selected in Medline articles. We focus on the relationship between these instruments and the concept of ...

Combating desertification in natural rangelands has recently become a priority in large parts of southern Africa. Rangeland managers, farmers, scientists, conservationists and land users have been applying a variety of restoration technologies to address this problem. Bush encroachment, as part of the desertification process, involves the natural replacement of the ...