Commentary on development of a support tool for complex decision-making.
Hearns, Klein and colleagues set out to develop a maternity care decision-making tool for the British Columbia Northern Health Authority to assist with assessing community needs and values. They are to be commended for thinking outside the traditional decision-making approach which focuses, as they say, on “administration, fiscal and safety issues. Solutions often follow previously made decisions … [because] this approach is less time-consuming, simpler and safer.” They go on to point out the problems with this approach, such as minimal engagement of community members or representation of their interests, potentially resulting in disempowerment and bitterness. They claim that their process rectifies this lack of engagement: