The Hospital: A Complex Adaptive System
Journal Title: Asian Journal of Medicine and Health - Year 2017, Vol 5, Issue 1
Abstract
Introduction: Numerous contemporary authors have described modern sanitary organisations as complex adaptive systems. Therefore, the behaviours and response patterns of their services and units are hardly intelligible if analysed by rationalist or Cartesian points of view. Methodology: The information used in this study’s process was extracted from Medline and LILACS databases, using the key words “Hospital”, “Health Care Economics and Organizations”, “Complexity Analysis”, and “Healthcare Systems”. No selection or exclusion criteria were used, due to the fact that the opinion developed in this article is based in the authors’ personal experience and not in a structured revision methodology. Results and Discussion: Hospitals are complex medical services companies due to many factors which alter their behaviour and work environment. They are governed by paradigms of complexity, and their structure, which needs to be particularly designed for the institution’s purpose, is also complex. Medical care is provided within an interdisciplinary matrix, in which agency relationships are not always translated into coherent diagnosis and therapy plans. Furthermore, these relationships usually increase, or do not modify, the gap between effectiveness and efficiency. Hospitals are open systems, and work dynamically, out of equilibrium. Therefore, contradictory or unpredictable agent’s behaviours are often seen affecting not only the organisation as a whole, but also the environment with which it interacts. Hospitals’ limits are diffuse and flexible, and their results are greater than the sum of its parts. Conclusion: The mentioned factors, among others, allow us to define a hospital as a complex adaptive system, which demands a new analytical approach, and the abolition of reductionist thinking. In this context, hospitals’ leaders will have to know the institution’s values, and simultaneously be used to working with tense flow logistics.
Authors and Affiliations
Díaz, Carlos Alberto, Castilla, Rodrigo Alberto, Lebersztein, Gabriel
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP336181
- DOI 10.9734/AJMAH/2017/34421
- Views 46
- Downloads 0
Predictors and Timing of Initiation of Ante Natal Care
Background: Maternal mortality is a major problem in developing countries. Sub saharan countries host more than 90% of maternal deaths in the world. In Kenya the maternal mortality ratio is quite high at 362 maternal dea...
Analysis of Factors Influencing Regulatory Compliance to Contain Man-made Ionizing Radiation from Medical Diagnostic Imaging Equipments in Corporate Hospitals, Tamil Nadu, India
Aims: To evaluate the current status of practices being followed to comply with regulatory guidelines by corporate hospitals for containing man-made ionizing radiation while using medical diagnostic imaging equipments. T...
Reasons Why Students Study Medicine: Views of Students at Delta State University Abraka, South-South Nigeria
Background: The demand to study medicine in Nigeria is very high thereby putting lots of pressure to the University authorities because of inadequate space and provision to accommodate the large number of applicants. Obj...
Asymptomatic Bacteriuria among Pregnant Women at University Hospital in Uyo, Nigeria: Prevalence, Risk Factors and Characteristics
Aims: To determine the prevalence of Asymptomatic Bacteriuria among pregnant women attending antenatal clinic at the University of Uyo Teaching hospital health care facility, Akwa Ibom State. Study Design: A cross-sectio...
Benign Breast Diseases in Makurdi, North Central Nigeria: A Retrospective Review of One Hundred and Thirty Five (135) Cases
Benign Breast Disease (BBDs) encompasses a diverse group of lesions that may present with a wide range of symptoms or may be detected as incidental microscopic findings. We presented a retrospective review of 249 cases o...