Thinking Systems Need Systems Thnking


After describing machine and complex adaptive systems, we define a thinking system with two unique, defining characteristics: having goal(s) separate from survival and the capability to innovate purposefully. Thinking systems always learn and are the only systems that can structure their own learning. Healthcare is a paradigm of a thinking system and is repeatedly plagued with unintended, adverse outcomes particularly after fixes that fail. Systems thinking can dissolve such dysfunction in healthcare and by extension in any thinking system. Specific recommendations follow from this rationale.

In the broadest sense, the thesis of this article is that our society must move beyond the industrial revolution and embrace the implications of living in an information age.  Unfortunately, our mental models, organizational structures and management philosophies are shackled by Newtonian (linear) ideation, assembly line mentality, as well as hierarchical, command-and-control attitudes. Most results in a modern world are derived from interactions within systems composed of machines, computers and people. These are thinking systems, and thinking systems need systems thinking.

When you understand what a thinking system is, you can accomplish more of what you want. YOU are a “thinking system,” that is capable of both true greatness and great evil. Like you and me, healthcare is a thinking system. Washington doesn’t understand this.

Read More: Fixing US Healthcare

Visit Deane Waldman for more information and to subscribe for free bonus videos and articles.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Will 2020 Americans Celebrate the Fourth of July by Repudiating 1776?

Image
  Before the American Revolutionary War, residents of the North American colonies were subjects of the British crown. They were entitled to whatever goods and services the aristocracy allowed. Their living conditions and daily activities were determined by government fiat. They paid taxes arbitrarily imposed by the crown.? In 1776, the founding fathers of the U.S.A. rejected centralized dominion and replaced it with a structure that took control away from the central government and gave it to the individual. The new Americans were free to make their own choices and accept the consequences of their decisions, good or bad. Without using the word capitalism, the founding fathers created a capitalist system. The new Americans were personally responsible and were entitled to nothing, except an open road. Entitlement is an integral part of socialism, an economic and political system where the means of production, distribution, and exchange is regulated by the government. The government is re
Read more

Health care is not a federal responsibility | Choose Your Healthcare

Image
There are a host of good reasons to “repeal” the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare). “Replace” is an entirely different matter. Start with its negative effects on individuals and on our country. Americans are experiencing skyrocketing health insurance costs—premiums, co-pays, and deductibles—which is the opposite of what the law’s name promised: affordable. The ACA is wasting trillions of dollars even though President Obama initiated his takeover of health care claiming we had to “bend down the [health care] spending curve.” Supporters of President Obama’s signature law loudly tout its one success—an increase in the number of insured Americans. Regrettably, it did so by reducing access to medical care for all Americans. Read the Complete Blog " A doctor’s straight talk: America, your health care is not a federal responsibility " to know why healthcare shouldn’t be controlled by Washington. Health care decisions should be made by We the People, not by federal bureaucra
Read more

How to Fix American Healthcare: Kick Out Washington

There are six important reasons to kick Washington OUT of U.S. healthcare. Simply put, healthcare is not in their  wheelhouse . The solution to our failing healthcare system is  StatesCare , not more-of-the-same Washington domination, called  single payer  or  Medicare-for-All . Reason #1: Track record The first and most obvious reason to kick Washington out is its track record. For more than fifty years, the federal government has been fixing healthcare, and look what their "fixes" have produced: needed medical care is both unaffordable and unavailable, especially when we need it. Imagine a football team that has had the same coach for fifty seasons and lost every game. Would you renew that coach's contract for next season? Reason #2: Cost In 2009, President Obama said spending on U.S. healthcare was "unsustainable," and he was correct. In 2010, the year the  Affordable Care Act  (ACA) was passed, the U.S. spent $2.5 trillion,  16 percent of GDP , o
Read more