LEARNING KEY SKILLS IN NURSING MANAGEMENT
charts, or cause-and-effect diagrams. Figure 8-3 illustrates a cause-and-effect diagram that a team of nurses created to help them improve the documentation process for their ambulatory oncology unit.
Another example of a decision tool is the Dynamic Network Analysis Decision Support (DyNADS) project at the University of Arizona College of Nursing (see http://www.dynads.nursing. arizona.edu). This simulation product enables the manager to predict the consequences of decisions on patient safety and quality outcomes. The tool simulates virtual nursing units, identifies potential errors, and predicts the likely result. Using the tool, the manager can discover if an innovation or a combination of innovations is likely to be successful (Effkenet al., 2010). DyNADS is a decision support tool that improves predictability in today’s complex environment.
Group Decision Making The widespread use of participative management, quality improvement teams, and shared gover- nance in health care organizations requires every nurse manager to determine when group, rather than individual, decisions are desirable and how to use groups effectively. A number of stud- ies have shown that professional people do not function well in a micromanaged environment. As an alternative, group problem solving of substantial issues casts the manager in the role of facilitator and consultant. Compared to individual decision making, groups can provide more in- put, often produce better decisions, and generate more commitment. One group decision-making technique is brainstorming.
In brainstorming, group members meet together and generate many diverse ideas about the nature, cause, definition, or solution to a problem without consideration of their relative value. The focus team whose work is shown in Figure 8-3 used brainstorming.