Systemic Change of the Healthcare System
Systems thinking is an important component of the design field that looks at the complexity of a diverse group of entities and how they are all interrelated to form an “ecosystem.” Each entity is connected to the others through the direct flow of resources or indirectly via an intricate web of relationships. One change within a system impacts every other entity in some way, meaning that it is challenging to predict the outcome of intervening in the system.
Using proven methods and a defined process, the students of Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s product design program are introduced to systems thinking in the second year of their education journey. This project explored one of the five main systems in the Metro Vancouver area, with the focus of this report being the healthcare system. The culmination of a semester-long study of healthcare systems, the booklet outlines the steps taken to understand the local challenges and suggests several improvements of different complexity to better serve the community and the system itself.
