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Biomedical subjects

P N Reeves

Publications and source records attributed to P N Reeves.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1993

Issues management: the other side of strategic planning.

Most health services organizations follow a strategic planning model that emphasizes organizational changes to adapt to the environment. This limited view overlooks the possibility of changing the environment to better suit the organization's goals. Health services leaders in particular are concerned because they have not been effectively engaged in dealing with external policy matters. A strategic issues management system provides an integrated approach to this responsibility and can be established by expanding current strategic management activities. Additional resources will be required for new analyses and interpretations and for more intense interaction with stakeholders, but these costs will be significantly less than the benefits realized from operation of an effective strategic issues management system.

Decision Making, Organizational↗
PubMed1992

How to use case studies: continuity cases vs. one-shot cases.

Cases are a widely used instructional technique in health services administration education. This article discusses the merits of using cases in graduate education and identifies two types of cases, one-shot cases and continuity cases. The continuity case has many advantages for professional education. In particular it requires the students to recognize and cope with the interactions among decisions. Continuity cases are good vehicles both for instruction and for evaluation of students' competence. The supply of good continuity cases, however, is very limited. Consequently, despite the advantages of this type of case, instructors must consider using a blend of continuity and one-shot cases. Suggestions for the mix of cases within a curriculum are presented.

Adult↗
PubMed1977

Issues in health plan development: a critique of the guidelines for plan development under PL 93-641.

The draft guidelines for development of health systems plans and annual implementation plans represent a logical, coherent integration of the best of currently available planning concepts and methods. However, there are at least six major areas in which the current state of the art is clearly inadequate. These are linkages between plan components, synchronization, plan integration, level of detail, cross-impact analyses and policy planning. This article describes each of these issues and identifies some of the projects which seem likely to contribute to their resolution. Finally, it urges each health planning agency to take advantage of the latitude in the guidelines to develop innovative solutions and to share the results with others.

Decision Making↗
PubMed1975

Planning health care delivery systems.

The increasing concern and interest in the health delivery system in the United States has placed the health system planners in a difficult position. They are inadequately prepared, in many cases, to deal with the management techniques that have been designed for use with system problems. This situation has been compounded by the failure, until recently, of educational programs to train new health professionals in these techniques. Computer simulation is a technique that allows the planners dynamic feedback on his proposed plans. This same technique provides the planning student with a better understanding of the systems planning process.

Computers↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Expert systems: a new technology for increasing decision makers' effectiveness and efficiency.

The two systems described above illustrate ways in which expert systems can be used in managing health services. These examples demonstrate how unskilled persons, clerks, or health consumers can obtain advice or decisions equivalent to the results of an interview with an experienced specialist. The savings in specialists' time is an obvious benefit. Increased accessibility, owing to the ability to use the system concurrently in many locations, will enhance the quality of the service. The value of these improvements in service delivery exceeds the relatively small cost of developing and implementing the system. The other advantages described are a bonus.

Cost-Benefit Analysis↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Strategic planning for every manager.

All managers plan, but many managers of small organizations limit their planning activities to developing and guiding discrete projects. This decision stems from two erroneous assumptions: strategic planning is useful only in large organizations, and it is too complex for a small organization. As a result, these managers deprive their organizations of an essential tool for long-term survival and prosperity. Strategic planning helps any organization effectively use its scarce resources by relating every decision to the organization's mission. The process for doing this consists of a sequence of decisions that applies in all cases. However, the effort involved in reaching each of these decisions varies with the size and complexity of the organization. Consequently, leaders of small units need not forego using this essential managerial tool. In this article, each decision is described and illustrated with an example from a typical small enterprise.

Administrative Personnel↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Strategic planning revisited.

The purpose of strategic planning is to create a favorable match between the organization's characteristics and its environment. Managers often focus exclusively on adapting the organization to circumstances in its environment. This approach overlooks opportunities for fostering environmental changes that will be favorable for the organization. Such changes often can be achieved through political action. Political action is an extension of the process of maximizing opportunities and averting threats. It requires the additional work of policy analysis and stakeholder assessment followed by developing and implementing a political strategy. The strategy must consider the possibilities for effective intervention at one or more of the five stages of the policy process. The choices also must take into account the positions of other stakeholders and the costs and benefits that the organization anticipates from each of the four strategic approaches: indirect action, collaboration, negotiation, and contest.

Health Policy↗