Biomaterial Database

Building knowledge of health care as a system. 1997

P B Batalden, and J J Mohr

Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH, USA.

A system is a functionally related group of interacting, interrelated, or interdependent elements forming a complex whole with a common aim. This article presents a method--a 10-step exercise--for building knowledge of the elements of an interdependent system of health care. Those who seek to improve the work of a system can use this exercise for designing and relating new improvement efforts to the general work of the organization.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D011357	Product Line Management	Management control systems for structuring health care delivery strategies around case types, as in DRGs, or specific clinical services.	Line Management, Product,Line Managements, Product,Management, Product Line,Managements, Product Line,Product Line Managements
D011785	Quality Assurance, Health Care	Activities and programs intended to assure or improve the quality of care in either a defined medical setting or a program. The concept includes the assessment or evaluation of the quality of care; identification of problems or shortcomings in the delivery of care; designing activities to overcome these deficiencies; and follow-up monitoring to ensure effectiveness of corrective steps.	Quality Assessment, Health Care,Health Care Quality Assessment,Health Care Quality Assurance,Healthcare Quality Assessment,Healthcare Quality Assurance,Quality Assessment, Healthcare,Quality Assurance, Healthcare,Assessment, Healthcare Quality,Assessments, Healthcare Quality,Assurance, Healthcare Quality,Assurances, Healthcare Quality,Healthcare Quality Assessments,Healthcare Quality Assurances,Quality Assessments, Healthcare,Quality Assurances, Healthcare
D006301	Health Services Needs and Demand	Health services required by a population or community as well as the health services that the population or community is able and willing to pay for.	Health Services Needs,Needs,Needs and Demand, Health Services,Target Population,Health Services Need,Need, Health Services,Needs, Health Services,Population, Target,Populations, Target,Target Populations
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D013597	Systems Analysis	The analysis of an activity, procedure, method, technique, or business to determine what must be accomplished and how the necessary operations may best be accomplished.	Agent-Based Modeling,Analysis, Systems,Complexity Analysis,System Dynamics Analysis,Systems Approach,Systems Medicine,Systems Oriented Approach,Systems Thinking,Agent Based Modeling,Agent-Based Modelings,Analyses, Complexity,Analyses, System Dynamics,Analyses, Systems,Analysis, Complexity,Analysis, System Dynamics,Approach, Systems,Approach, Systems Oriented,Approachs, Systems,Approachs, Systems Oriented,Complexity Analyses,Dynamics Analyses, System,Dynamics Analysis, System,Medicine, Systems,Medicines, Systems,Modeling, Agent-Based,Modelings, Agent-Based,System Dynamics Analyses,Systems Analyses,Systems Approachs,Systems Medicines,Systems Oriented Approachs,Systems Thinkings,Thinking, Systems,Thinkings, Systems
D014481	United States	A country in NORTH AMERICA between CANADA and MEXICO.
D017064	Process Assessment, Health Care	An evaluation procedure that focuses on how care is delivered, based on the premise that there are standards of performance for activities undertaken in delivering patient care, in which the specific actions taken, events occurring, and human interactions are compared with accepted standards.	Process Assessment (Health Care),Assessment, Process,Process Measures,Assessment, Process (Health Care),Assessments, Process,Assessments, Process (Health Care),Measure, Process,Measures, Process,Process Assessment,Process Assessments,Process Assessments (Health Care),Process Measure
D017146	Models, Organizational	Theoretical representations and constructs that describe or explain the structure and hierarchy of relationships and interactions within or between formal organizational entities or informal social groups.	Organizational Models,Model, Organizational,Organizational Model
D018511	Systems Integration	The procedures involved in combining separately developed modules, components, or subsystems so that they work together as a complete system. (From McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms, 4th ed)	Integration, Systems,Integrations, Systems,Systems Integrations
D019033	Delivery of Health Care, Integrated	A health care system which combines physicians, hospitals, and other medical services with a health plan to provide the complete spectrum of medical care for its customers. In a fully integrated system, the three key elements - physicians, hospital, and health plan membership - are in balance in terms of matching medical resources with the needs of purchasers and patients. (Coddington et al., Integrated Health Care: Reorganizing the Physician, Hospital and Health Plan Relationship, 1994, p7)	Integrated Delivery Systems,Integrated Health Care Systems,Delivery System, Integrated,Delivery Systems, Integrated,Integrated Delivery System,System, Integrated Delivery,Systems, Integrated Delivery