Contributing to health system resilience during pandemics via purchasing and supply strategies: an exploratory system dynamics approach

Background: Health systems worldwide struggled to obtain sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE) and ventilators during the COVID-19 pandemic due to global supply chain disruptions. Our study’s aim was to create a proof-of-concept model that would simulate the effects of supply strategies under various scenarios, to ultimately help...

A resilience view on health system resilience: a scoping review of empirical studies and reviews

BACKGROUND: Prompted by recent shocks and stresses to health systems globally, various studies have emerged on health system resilience. Our aim is to describe how health system resilience is operationalised within empirical studies and previous reviews. We compare these to the core conceptualisations and characteristics of resilience in a...

A guide to systems-level, participatory, theory-informed implementation research in global health

Implementation research is a multidisciplinary field that addresses the complex phenomenon of how context influences our ability to deliver evidence-informed healthcare. There is increasing realisation of the importance of applying robust implementation research to scale-up life-saving interventions that meet health-related sustainable...

Factors influencing procurement behaviour and decision-making: an exploratory qualitative study in a UK healthcare provider

Background: In 2016 the UK Department of Health and Social Care published the results of a comprehensive review of efficiency in hospitals, identifying “unwarranted variation” in procurement (or purchasing) practices for materials, supplies and devices. Addressing this variation in materials and supplies procurement practice has been...

Memorandum Weiterentwicklung der Gesundheitsversorgungsforschung in Bayern aus Sicht der Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft Gesundheitsversorgungsforschung: Status quo - Entwicklungspotenziale - Strategien

The aim of the memorandum on the development of health services research (HSR) in Bavaria is to operationalise the global objectives of the State Working Group Health Services Research (LAGeV) and to collectively define future topics, specific implementation steps, methods as well as ways of working for the future course of the LAGeV. The...

Cognitive engineering of a military multi-modal memory restructuring system

Several methods have been proposed to treat combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Still, a recent review reports on high drop-out and non response rates. This has motivated work into the design of a software application to support and to increase the appeal of traditional face-to-face trauma-focused psychotherapy. The...