Injury prevention decision science

I have not met an executive yet, who thinks they are poor decision-makers. I have not met many scientists who do not believe that data speak for themselves. From an executive’s perspective, poor decisions are simply the consequence of flawed (or insufficient) data, and from the scientist’s perspective, poor decisions are what happens when decision-makers do not listen to scientists. To address the problem, executives seek to obtain more and better data, and scientists advocate more loudly for data they produce. But there is more to it than that. Decision-making is an active process somewhere between data inputs and public health outcome. There is a science that supports our understanding and optimal application of the decision-making process—decision science. When it comes down to it, public health and thus …