Systeemwetenschap in de zorg

In this course, students will explore the fundamentals of health systems science, learning how to analyse and assess challenges in health & care by applying a systems perspective and systems science methods.

Students will begin by identifying the environmental, social, and technical components of health systems, examining the macro-, meso-, and microsystem perspectives, and practicing habits of a systems thinker within the health & care context. Key topics include the drivers of health systems, their key actors, organizational and regulatory frameworks, and the role of the (built) environment and infrastructure. The course also addresses the interactions between these system elements and their collective impact on health outcomes.

Students will be introduced to systems science methods and their application in health & care, such as descriptive, normative, and prescriptive modelling approaches. The course includes hands-on exercises where students will engage in small, controlled modelling practices using select machine learning algorithms and game theory concepts. These exercises will help students understand how these methods can inform decision-making in health & care systems. Healthcare-specific methods like epidemiology and evidence-based principles will also be taught, equipping students with the knowledge foundation necessary to address challenges in this domain.

As part of the course, students will work in small groups on a given health & care challenge. Through problem-structuring approaches, stakeholder interviews, and document analysis, they will apply systems methods to analyse the problem, propose evidence-based solutions, and reflect on the engagement of stakeholders for co-design and future adoption. Practical exercises will include working with existing quantitative and qualitative data to address the specific challenge.

By the end of the course, students will understand what “health systems science” entails, including the constituents, dynamics, and complexity of health systems, and be equipped with the tools to design interventions for this domain.

Topics covered are:

-       Global and National Health & Care challenges and threats

-       How systems thinking and systems science methods can be utilized to solve systems challenges in health & care.

-       Drivers in the Health & Care domain including the key actors, regulations, (built) environment and (financial) infrastructure

-       Safety in health care (pathways to harm in health & care and how systems methods and engineering can reduce harm through health care)

-       Health methods: Epidemiology, and knowledge fundament including the principles of ‘evidence-based’ approaches in medicine and healthcare research.

-       Systems methods as applied in Health & Care, specifically:

o   Evolutionary Game Theory to Understand and Target Evolving Diseases

o    Machine learning principles for clinical and organizational decision-support systems, with hands-on practice using select algorithms and working with provided datasets to model and analyse specific health & care scenarios.