The Future of Healthcare through a Systems Approach

This paper offers a perspective on how a Systems Approach framework, that involves Systems Thinking and the System Development Lifecycle, can be applied in collaborative innovation to ensure that healthcare achieves value, safety, accessibility, and positive patient outcomes. Approaching problem solving in healthcare from a Systems Thinking perspective reinforces the need to maintain a holistic, rather than reductionist, view when designing systems. Coupled with the System Development Lifecycle that provides a requirementsdriven process that progresses from conception through realization, one can create a feedback loop to ensure a continually improving system. Utilizing this approach through transdisciplinary teams, involving both engineers and healthcare professionals, that consider challenges from an integrated conceptual framework, allows the team to formulate and evaluate solutions based on the insights from across the disciplines. The result is the creation and deployment of robust solutions that improve value and advance learning.