Systems approaches to healthcare systems design and care delivery: An overview of the literature

The healthcare sector is facing significant challenges that require a systems approach, resulting in a rapid growth in the application of systems approaches in healthcare since the beginning of the 21st century. Consequently, healthcare practitioners and policymakers now desire to understand the evidence-base for the approach, but little...

Three Approaches to Design Engineering in the Health Domain: A Systemic Perspective

This paper proposes a categorization of existing approaches to healthcare-related engineering design based on systems thinking principles. Three existing approaches to healthcare-related engineering design are isolated which contribute differently to health systems fundamental purposes and interconnections. The three approaches are labeled as ...

Combining unmergeables: A methodological framework for axiomatic fusion of qualitative design theories

The proposed methodological framework concerns axiomatic theory fusion (ATF) of non-additive engineering design theories. ATF includes seven steps: (i) semantic discretization of the composite theories, (ii) deriving epistemological entities by logical/semantic analysis, (iii) establishing and representation of relations among all relevant...