Systems thinking in healthcare

In this video, we introduce you to Amanda Royston – an Associate Professor in Healthcare, Leadership and Management at Coventry University.

Amanda talks about the need for leaders to adopt a systems thinking approach to navigate the challenges and increasing complexity of health systems across the world.

In 2008 the World Health Organization (WHO) observed the following about health systems:

The responses of many health systems so far have been generally considered inadequate and naive… a system’s failure requires a system’s solution – not a temporary remedy.

(Savigny and Adam 2009: 39)

Systems thinking works to decode the complexity of a health system, then applies this understanding to design and evaluate interventions that maximize health and health equity.

(Savigny and Adam 2009: 30)

• Using a systems perspective to understand how health system building blocks, contexts and actors act, react and interact with each other is an essential approach in designing and evaluating interventions
• Mainstreaming a stronger systems perspective in the health sector will assist this understanding and accelerate health system strengthening
• Systems thinking offers a comprehensive way of anticipating synergies and mitigating negative emergent behaviours, with direct relevance for creating policies that are more system-ready

Your task

Consider the following quote:

‘… health services can be characterised as modern society’s most complex knowledge system’ (Saltman, Calltorp and de Roo 2011: 150).

Do you agree with this statement? Discuss your position in the comments area.

Further reading

_{Savigny, D., and Adam, T. (2009) Systems Thinking for Health Systems Strengthening [online] Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, World Health Organization. available from https://www.who.int/alliance-hpsr/resources/9789241563895/en/ [21 April 2020]}

References

_{Saltman, R., Calltorp, J., and de Roo, A. (2011) ‘Health Sector Innovation and Partnership’. in OECD Health Reform: Meeting the Challenge of Ageing and Multiple Morbidities. OECD Publishing, 143-168}

_{Savigny, D., and Adam, T. (2009) Systems Thinking for Health Systems Strengthening [online] Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, World Health Organization. available from https://www.who.int/alliance-hpsr/resources/9789241563895/en/ [21 April 2020]}