Health Care and Decision Making, Essay Example

When reflecting upon the relationship between health care and decision making, it is clear that decisions play a decisive role in the field. I came to such a conclusion because of the deeply personal nature of the medical profession. It is clear that in health care we are dealing with individuals, each with their own personal histories and communities of loved ones to which they belong. Certainly, these individuals approach the health care system for help and attention. I believe that being both skilled and responsive to this demand – not only on a professional but on a personal level that emphasizes human empathy – is crucial for success in the profession. This is why decision making is important for me: it means to me personally that I am taking seriously the health care field.

Furthermore decision making relates to me personally as an important theme because it marks a somewhat grey area, where such empathy and training skills in health care reach a certain limit point. I think that the decision in general can take various forms, such as a type of medication to be given, how to properly deal with a given patient, etc., But all these instances of decision making resemble for me personally an ambiguous point, where we, as health care professionals, are required to perform a speculative leap and therefore make a crucial decision in regards to the future well being of the individual seeking health care. I want to understand decision making so that I can make the best decisions possible in the health care context. This is why the study of decision making is important to me. I feel that this is the precise reason for studying various decision making theories in regards to health care.. These theories have a personal significance for me, because it signifies a fundamental attempt to minimize the contingency that is part of any decision and thus make me as an individual more competent in my knowledge of essentials of healthy living. When reflecting on the act of the decision itself, I cannot help but feel that when I am forced to make a decision, to a certain extent, I concede that to a certain degree I do not know what to do. This is because a decision implies a form of fork in the road: one can either take the right path or the left path. A decision therefore always possesses an element of uncertainty for me, it always means that I do not in fact know exactly what will happen, even if I sometimes may be fairly authoritative in regards to the decision I make. In the paradigm of health care, minimizing such uncertainty and contingency is crucial precisely because we are dealing with the health of individuals. Our decisions must not only be authoritative, but also compassionate: there is a wide series of variables that have to be considered.

Certainly, the theoretical topics we have discussed provide various means with which to minimize the chance and contingency part of decision making and health care. In this regard, Chapman and Sonnenberg provide a useful means of thinking what is at stake in this uncertainty. First there is a normative theory of decision making, which means »how can decisions best be made?« (Chapman & Sonnenberg, 2000, p. 3) Furthermore, one may talk about the »descriptive« question, which means »how are decisions actually made?« (Chapman & Sonnenberg, 2000, p. 3) Thirdly, what is called »prescriptive« means »how can decision theory be used to improve decision making?« (Chapman & Sonnenberg, 2000, p. 3)

In my reflections above, I have basically concentrated on the descriptive question of how decisions are actually made. Hence, I acknowledged that there is always a basic unknown present in every decision by definition. However, for further reflection, I think it would be useful to discuss what Chapman calls normative and prescriptive theories, so that in relation to me personally I can become more familiy with decision making in regards to health care. This knowledge would provide me personally with some precise aids in my interests of the study of healthy living: it would give me a “how” to go along with a “why” in regards to why decision making is important. Questions of »how can decisions best be made« can rely on a vast number of factors, such as empirical evidence. In addition, the prescriptive method implies a meta-analysis of decision making theory itself: this lets us examine some of the presuppositions that may exist in current methodology. I think that such three categories of decision making in relation to health care offers a robust, basic model, that promotes effective further reflection on this topic. This can supplement my own personal reflections on the issue that have underscored the gray area of uncertainty, which every decision necessarily implies.

Works Cited

Chapman, G.B. and Sonnenberg, F.A. (2000). »Introduction.« In: G.B. Chapman & F.A: Sonnenberg (eds.) Decision Making in Health Care: Theory, Psychology, and Applications. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 3-19.