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Hospitals as complex adaptive systems
National health systems are complex with frequent unexpected outcomes. Watch this video to see an example of consequences of the complexity.
A feature of complex systems is that interventions frequently produce unexpected or unpredictable outcomes.
To what extent do you think the behaviour of health staff at county level in this video could have been foreseen during the policy development process? What might have been required as part of planning in order to more accurately predict how county hospital staff would respond to this policy?
Please comment below.
References
This video was based on research presented in: Barasa, E.W., Molyneux, S., English, M., Cleary, S., 2017. Hospitals as complex adaptive systems: A case study of factors influencing priority setting practices at the hospital level in Kenya. Soc Sci Med 174, 104–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2016.12.026.
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