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SYSTEMS APPROACHES TO HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS DESIGN AND CARE DELIVERY: AN OVERVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 July 2021

Alexander Komashie ,
Saba Hinrichs-Krapels  and
P. John Clarkson
Alexander Komashie*
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK THIS Institute (The Healthcare Improvement Studies Institute), University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Saba Hinrichs-Krapels
Affiliation:
Department of Multi-Actor Systems, Delft University of Technology, Delft, Ne
P. John Clarkson
Affiliation:
Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
*
Komashie, Alexander, University of Cambridge, Engineering, United Kingdom, A.Komashie@eng.cam.ac.uk

Abstract

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The healthcare sector is facing significant challenges that require a systems approach, resulting in a rapid growth in the application of systems approaches in healthcare since the beginning of the 21st century. Consequently, healthcare practitioners and policymakers now desire to understand the evidence-base for the approach, but little evidence of the kind desired exists. This paper is a first step in conducting a narrative review of the application of systems approaches in healthcare based on a systematic review of the academic and grey literature. First, the emergence of the approach in healthcare is explored. Second, specific examples of applications of systems approaches in healthcare are examined to identify any missing elements in current practice. Third, fourteen reviews of the approach in healthcare published in the last ten years are analysed. The results suggest that the use of the approach in healthcare will most likely continue to increase, however, significant work remains for the design and systems community to demonstrate the effectiveness of systems approaches, specifically in providing convincing measures of impact on patient and service outcomes.

Keywords

Systems Engineering (SE)Design engineeringService designHealthcare designhealthcare quality improvement
Type
Article
Information
Proceedings of the Design Society , Volume 1: ICED21 , August 2021 , pp. 2941 - 2950
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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