Objective. The role of process modelling has been widely recognized for effective quality improvement. However, application in health care is somewhat limited since the health care community lacks knowledge about a broad range of methods and their applicability to health care. Therefore, the objectives of this paper are to present a summary description of a limited number of distinct modelling methods and evaluate how health care workers perceive them. Methods. Various process modelling methods from several different disciplines were reviewed and characterized. Case studies in three different health care scenarios were carried out to model those processes and evaluate how health care workers perceive the usability and utility of the process models. Results. Eight distinct modelling methods were identified and characterized by what the modelling elements in each explicitly represents. Flowcharts, which had been most extensively used by the participants, were most favoured in terms of their usability and utility. However, some alternative methods, although having been used by a much smaller number of participants, were considered to be helpful, specifically in understanding certain aspects of complex processes, e.g. communication diagrams for understanding interactions, swim lane activity diagrams for roles and responsibilities and state transition diagrams for a patient-centred perspective. Discussion. We believe thatit is important to make the various process modelling methods more easily accessible to health care by providing clear guidelines or computer-based tool support for health care-specific process modelling. These supports can assist health care workers to apply initially unfamiliar, but eventually more effective modelling methods.@en

The UK health service, which had been diagnosed to be seriously out of step with good design practice, has been recommended to obtain knowledge of design and risk management practice from other safety-critical industries. While these other industries have benefited from a broad range of systems modelling approaches, healthcare remains a long way behind. In order to investigate the healthcare-specific applicability of systems modelling approaches, this study identified 10 distinct methods through meta-model analysis. Healthcare workers' perception on 'ease of use' and 'usefulness' was then evaluated. The characterisation of the systems modelling methods showed that each method had particular capabilities to describe specific aspects of a complex system. However, the healthcare workers found that some of the methods, although potentially very useful, would be difficult to understand, particularly without prior experience. This study provides valuable insights into a better use of the systems modelling methods in healthcare. Statement of Relevance: The findings in this study provide insights into how to make a better use of various systems modelling approaches to the design and risk management of healthcare delivery systems, which have been a growing research interest among ergonomists and human factor professionals.@en

In this paper, we argue that the healthcare systems within which patients are treated are like patients themselves. The systems display symptoms which may give indication of problems in an "organ" of the system. The human system that forms the core of healthcare activities is a complex system and so are healthcare systems. The success of medical diagnosis has been facilitated by a generic concept of the human anatomy and its systems, organs, and corresponding physiology. The lower levels are the building blocks on which the upper levels depend. Disease processes cause failure at the chemical levels and this failure affects organs, systems, and even the whole body. We observe an interesting similarity between the medical diagnosis process and the systems design approach, yet there is no corresponding generic representation of healthcare systems akin to the anatomy and physiology of the human system. Our goal in this paper is not to match the healthcare system to the human system part by part and organ to organ but to discuss how the structured medical diagnosis process can be applicable to healthcare systems if an appropriate conceptual representation of the system can be developed.@en

Background: The utilisation of good design practices in the development of complex health services is essential to improving quality. Healthcare organisations, however, are often seriously out of step with modern design thinking and practice. As a starting point to encourage the uptake of good design practices, it is important to understand the context of their intended use. This study aims to do that by articulating current health service development practices. Methods. Eleven service development projects carried out in a large mental health service were investigated through in-depth interviews with six operation managers. The critical decision method in conjunction with diagrammatic elicitation was used to capture descriptions of these projects. Stage-gate design models were then formed to visually articulate, classify and characterise different service development practices. Results: Projects were grouped into three categories according to design process patterns: new service introduction and service integration; service improvement; service closure. Three common design stages: problem exploration, idea generation and solution evaluation - were then compared across the design process patterns. Consistent across projects were a top-down, policy-driven approach to exploration, underexploited idea generation and implementation-based evaluation. Conclusions: This study provides insight into where and how good design practices can contribute to the improvement of current service development practices. Specifically, the following suggestions for future service development practices are made: genuine user needs analysis for exploration; divergent thinking and innovative culture for idea generation; and fail-safe evaluation prior to implementation. Better training for managers through partnership working with design experts and researchers could be beneficial.@en

Over the past decades simulation has been recognized as a vital tool for solving problems within the healthcare sector, almost catching up with other areas. It is evident that healthcare systems are rapidly evolving into complex and dynamic environments whilst bearing a multitude of stakeholders. Simulation has originally emerged from military and manufacturing applications that mainly follow sequential processing with pre-specified targets. Such an approach is too rigid and irrelevant to the complexity and dynamism of healthcare systems, where lack of understanding is a common feature. This is mainly attributed to lack of understating of the life cycle of healthcare services. In this paper we attempt to define the life cycle of healthcare services and explore the use of modeling and simulation in supporting healthcare service development and management. We particularly explore a number of exemplars of how modeling was used to support earlier stages of the service life cycle.@en

Background: There is an increasing recognition that modelling and simulation can assist in the process of designing health care policies, strategies and operations. However, the current use is limited and answers to questions such as what methods to use and when remain somewhat underdeveloped. Aim. The aim of this study is to provide a mechanism for decision makers in health services planning and management to compare a broad range of modelling and simulation methods so that they can better select and use them or better commission relevant modelling and simulation work. Methods. This paper proposes a modelling and simulation method comparison and selection tool developed from a comprehensive literature review, the research team's extensive expertise and inputs from potential users. Twenty-eight different methods were identified, characterised by their relevance to different application areas, project life cycle stages, types of output and levels of insight, and four input resources required (time, money, knowledge and data). Results: The characterisation is presented in matrix forms to allow quick comparison and selection. This paper also highlights significant knowledge gaps in the existing literature when assessing the applicability of particular approaches to health services management, where modelling and simulation skills are scarce let alone money and time. Conclusions: A modelling and simulation method comparison and selection tool is developed to assist with the selection of methods appropriate to supporting specific decision making processes. In particular it addresses the issue of which method is most appropriate to which specific health services management problem, what the user might expect to be obtained from the method, and what is required to use the method. In summary, we believe the tool adds value to the scarce existing literature on methods comparison and selection.@en

In order to explore the applicability of diagrammatic representations for healthcare systems design, this paper aims to investigate the roles of different diagram types in various healthcare systems design cases: medication management process; medical device purchasing process; patient diagnosis process. It mainly examines how healthcare workers perceive various diagram types in terms of ease of understanding and utility. In conclusion, it provides insight into how to use various simple diagram types for healthcare systems design.@en

Diagrammatic representations, such as process mapping and care pathways, have been often used for service evaluation and improvement in healthcare. While a broad range of diagrammatic representations exist, their application in healthcare has been very limited. There is a lack of understanding about how and which diagrams could be usable and useful to health workers. In this study, ten mental health workers were asked to discuss positive and negative issues around their service delivery using one or two diagrams of their choice out of seven different diagrams representing their service: care pathway diagram; organisation diagram; communication diagram; service blueprint; patient state transition diagram; free form diagram; geographic map. Their interactions with diagrams were video-taped for analysis. The patient state transition diagram was the most popular choice in spite of relatively low previous familiarity. The overall findings provided insight into a better use of diagrams in healthcare.@en