Improving Decisions
Rod
O’Connor & Associates or ROA
are
Sydney-based
consultants specialising in
improving decision making. ROA work in healthcare and across all areas where there is a significant decision-making component
to develop improved programs and decision processes.
Rod
O'Connor PhD
has been a
Technical adviser in
health service quality improvement to the World Bank, consultant
in Outcomes Research
and Situational Analysis for Policy for the WHO,
invited rapporteur on
Quality of Life Measurement for the UK Economic & Social Research
Council, and
invited referee for the U.K. National Co-ordinating Centre for
Research Capacity Development.
Rod has a PhD in cognitive science (Monash University) and training in
health economics (Monash University & University of Melbourne), health
outcomes measurement (Harvard School of Public Health), and modern
measurement methods (University of Illinois at Chicago).
Rod is also Conjoint
Associate Professor at the School of Public
Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales,
Sydney, and member of Brain Sciences UNSW, a
research Institute comprised of researchers from the basic
neurosciences, psychiatry, psychology, drug and alcohol, neurology,
neurosurgery, biomedical engineering and mathematics.
His book ‘Measuring Quality of
Life in Health’ was published by Elsevier/
Churchill Livingstone U.K. in 2004. He is
currently completing a book on the way people make decisions.
ROA
apply the methods and insight of cognitive and behavioural science to
develop improved programs and decision systems.
Better decisions are
considered to follow from clear objectives;
an evidence base; a
specified 'logic of action';
the promotion of innovation; recognition of
perceptual, cognitive and emotional biases;
the use of decision algorithms and error-reducing system
design;
accurate measures of process and outcome;
and valuing the views of all
informed persons irrespective of position.
Workshops
are conducted by ROA in areas
critical to service improvement. These are provided directly to
client organisations as well as in association with bodies such as the
Australian College of Health Service Executives
(ACHSE).
Current
workshops offer training in
patient-centred outcomes measurement, evaluation and planning of programs,
questionnaire design,
naturalistic decision methods, and methods for program improvement.
An
executive advisory service
is
available to anyone who
feels they may benefit from one-to-one guidance
in any of the workshop areas. Please contact Rod O'Connor if you might be interested
in this option.
Over
90 projects in
healthcare development
and
evaluation have been completed by
ROA.
Agencies assisted and examples of projects include the World Health
Organisation (outcomes measurement; policy analysis), The World Bank (quality improvement of healthcare), GlaxoSmithKline
(strategic planning of clinical research),
Commonwealth of Australia (disability
assessment, mental health needs forecasting),
Malaysian Ministry of Health (acute hospital planning),
the Australian Bureau of Statistics
(assessing healthcare needs),
and Canteen (evaluation of psycho-social support needs for adolescents
with cancer).
Performance measures have been constructed in areas as diverse as disability assessment (the
Disability Support Pension for DSS Australia), Aboriginal health
infrastructure funding (for ATSIC and the Commonwealth of Australia),
medication compliance (GSK), and
home-carer burden (SA domicilary care)
ROA
have been active in Australia since 1988,
S.E.Asia 1991, East Asia 1998, South America 2000, the Pacific 2001,
and P.R.China 2006
Activity areas
Click 'Site Contents'
for details
Program Improvement
Cognitive Task Analysis
Team behaviour
Decision Systems
Evidence-based Medicine
Client-valued outcomes
Program Evaluation
Client QoL and Satisfaction
Health Psychometrics
Program Development
Program
planning
Needs analysis
Demand
forecasting
Mentoring
in project improvement
and development
Research
in socio-behavioural
factors
and decision making
Training
Outcomes
measurement
Program Evaluation, Planning
Naturalistic decision making
Questionnaire Design
Program Improvement
General
Policy development
Data base development
Model building
Experimental design
Data analysis
Contact Details
Sydney Australia
Tel: +61-2-9555 9916
roa@RodOConnorAssoc.com
Copyright ©
2003 Rod O'Connor &
Associates Pty Ltd.
All rights reserved.
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