Decisions in Zimbabwe

Decisions! You make a hundred a day, what to wear, what you eat, who you call, when you change lanes in the traffic, and most of the time you don't even think about them. You just make them. Then once in a while along comes one that forces you to sit back and think. There is that sinking feeling in your gut that cannot be mistaken for bad chicken. That 'if I make the wrong one on this one I'm better off as a stuffed turkey on thanksgiving' feeling that warns you that its crunch time. Well its crunch time at the practice. I've done the budget for next year, I've costed the business in a dozen ways and then I've looked at what we need to achieve as an organisation. I've compared regional prices and the bottom line is that my prices need to go up-drastically, without loosing any patients. Decisions. Before you all run off and book with someone else,which i suspect a lot of people may do, I have also looked at the impact this will have on our service delivery and what we can do to increase 'value for money'. The decision is do we go through with this and risk client loss, or do we keep going at an 'affordable' rate and sacrifice aspects of the business. This is Zimbabwe and there is no garuntee what could happen-some people have little income to spare on health care at the best of times.

I wish there was an easy way to do this, an easier way to know the best way to go. There are a few tips I've picked up. One is to look for all the green lights, when things start to line up one after the other you are probably on the right track. Weighing pros and cons is another, draw up a list with one side positive and the other negative. Ask others-this is a good option to help see different ways, but can be a way of procrastinating. Enough about me, I need to make this choice by the new year. For more useful ideas on weighing options try Mind Tools