Resources

As a behaviour change strategy, education rarely achieves the desired result when used on its own. It’s ‛necessary but insufficient’ to effect lasting change. In the classic hierarchy of change effectiveness or the ‘action hierarchy’, education ranks as the least effective intervention, below new rules, policies and more system-focused categories such as forcing functions and automation. And yet, in most human services it continues to be the ‘go-to’ response to everything from accreditation recommendations to policy implementation.

In any ‘system’ – essentially, a collective of different moving parts – we must understand how the parts affect the whole. There are many ways to define ‘Systems Thinking’ – a concept that was first coined by Barry Richmond:

“As interdependency increases, we must learn in a new way. It’s not good enough simply to get smarter and smarter about our particular “piece of the rock.” We must have a common language and framework for sharing our specialized knowledge, expertise and experience with “local experts” from other parts of the web… In short, interdependency demands Systems Thinking. Without it, the evolutionary trajectory that we’ve been following since we emerged from the primordial soup will become increasingly less viable.”
 

Integrated care addresses the problem of care fragmentation, and instead supports continuity.  It is person-centred because it enhances the patient experience through improved coordination of care.  Integrated care has been broadly described as an ‘organising principle for care delivery with the aim of achieving improved patient care through better coordination of services provided’ – hence the need for systems thinking.