Decision cycle refers to the continual use of mental and physical processes by an entity to reach and implement decisions.
- Within the United States military, a theory of an Observe–Orient–Decide–Act (OODA) loop has been advocated by Colonel John Boyd.
- In quality control, plan–do–check–act is used.
- In science, the scientific method (hypothesis–experiment–evaluation, or plan–do–check) can also be seen as a decision cycle.
- In the nursing process, the ADPIE (Assessment–Diagnosis–Planning–Implementation–Evaluation) process is used. This has a suggested revision, in the ASPIRE (Assessment–Systematic Nursing Diagnosis–Planning–Implementation–'Recheck'–Evaluation) model, to include an additional stage—'Recheck'—in between 'Implementation' and 'Evaluation'.
Famous quotes containing the words decision and/or cycle:
“Will mankind never learn that policy is not morality,—that it never secures any moral right, but considers merely what is expedient? chooses the available candidate,—who is invariably the devil,—and what right have his constituents to be surprised, because the devil does not behave like an angel of light? What is wanted is men, not of policy, but of probity,—who recognize a higher law than the Constitution, or the decision of the majority.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The lifelong process of caregiving, is the ultimate link between caregivers of all ages. You and I are not just in a phase we will outgrow. This is life—birth, death, and everything in between.... The care continuum is the cycle of life turning full circle in each of our lives. And what we learn when we spoon-feed our babies will echo in our ears as we feed our parents. The point is not to be done. The point is to be ready to do again.”
—Paula C. Lowe (20th century)