title: A look at psychiatric decision making.
abstract: The author reviews the efforts of medicine and psychiatry to understand their decision-making processes and notes the lack of psychiatric literature in this area. The decision table, a sophisticated form of algorithm, is introduced as a structure to help explain the decision-making process. This tool is applied to the evaluation and biological treatment of depression. Decision tables can be used as an educational tool, a method to facilitate the delivery of mental health care, a method to monitor the quality of treatment, and as a research tool.
mesh_terms: D003657:Decision Making; D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008960:Models, Psychological; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000193:education / Q000379:methods; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011996:Records; D012107:Research Design; D013664:Teaching Materials