Applying Systems Thinking to a Public Health Issue
Order Instructions:
This week your Learning Resources described various approaches to public health using systems thinking. For this Discussion, bring to mind a public health program or effort you are involved with or might wish to design in the future, and consider how systems thinking might enhance it. Prepare for this Discussion by creating a logic model for this public health program or effort. Be sure to cite your readings this week to support your argument.
Answer the following Questions:
1. Briefly describe your selected program and identify the characteristics of this system.
2. In what ways would using systems thinking help to break down barriers between different departments and different funding sources?
3. Describe some ways in which this system could be tested and validated.
Article:
1. Green, L. W. (2006). Public health asks of systems science: To advance our evidence-based practice, can you help us get more practice-based evidence? American Journal of Public Health, 96(3), 406-409.
In Green’s article, the need to unravel the complex forces of public health practices is discussed. The article also addresses the lack of evidence-based practices and lack of reality-based research within the field.
2. Lenaway, D., Sotnikov, S., Corso, L., Millington, W., Halverson, P., & Tilson, H. (2006). Public health systems research: Setting a national agenda. American Journal of Public Health, 96(3), 410-413.
As the Institute of Medicine recommended that policy decisions be guided by good scientific evidence, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was called upon to develop a set of guidelines for public health systems. This article describes the CDC’s framework and the emerging research themes.
Summarize these two articles listed below:
Read and evaluate articles making sure to highlight and take notice of each article’s systems thinking approach.
1. Bar-Yam, Y. (2006). Improving the effectiveness of health care and public health: A multiscale complex systems analysis. American Journal of Public Health, 96(3), 459-466.
2. Fajans, P., Simmons, R., & Ghiron, L. (2006). Helping public sector health systems innovate: The strategic approach to strengthening reproductive health policies and programs. American Journal of Public Health, 96(3), 435-440.
Please apply the Application Assignment Rubric when writing the Paper.
I. Paper should demonstrate an excellent understanding of all of the concepts and key points presented in the texts.
II. Paper provides significant detail including multiple relevant examples, evidence from the readings and other sources, and discerning ideas.
III. Paper should be well organized, uses scholarly tone, follows APA style, uses original writing and proper paraphrasing, contains very few or no writing and/or spelling errors, and is fully consistent with doctoral level writing style.
IV. Paper should be mostly consistent with doctoral level writing style.
SAMPLE ANSWER
Applying Systems Thinking to a Public Health Issue
Introduction
Public health practitioners collaboratively attempt to solve complex public health issues embedded within the societal fabric. Solutions to such problem often require the engagement and intervention of key stakeholders ranging from regional systems to local entities. Such multi-participant and multi-level involvement is the center of systems thinking, as a process of the intern-connected influence of parts within a whole. This paper seeks to explore on the question on how systems thinking can be used to solve public health issue that occurred during Hurricane Katrina. While many programs exist to solve the problem, this paper will mainly use the example of weather forecasting.
The proposed program
Public health is presently incorporating the knowledge of social science just like sociology did 40 years ago, in uncovering the complexities of ecologically layered societal and community circumstances, as well as, the various forces within the public health practice (Green, 2006). Since systems thinking is not easy to conceptualize, both the system’s design and analysis serves as the essential means of describing the systems applicability in public health practice. Among the most developed trans-disciplinary collaboration and that is primarily oriented towards systems thinking theoretical context is weather forecasting and modeling. Scientists’ and organizations’ networks from around the globe collaboratively work together towards understanding weather pattern complexities so as to allow timely and accurate weather forecasting
This paper proposes a program where weather forecasting and research model groups can employ a translational model allowing new discoveries made within a field e.g. oceanography to be linked with other new discoveries from other fields to allow the understanding of complex trans-disciplinary relationships. Data from different fields can be brought together, models developed to analyze such data, and optimized models can be developed to disperse derived information to the public and specific end users who will make good use of such information.
Understanding the relationship between land masses, wind flow, water temperature and solar activity among other natural forces can be achieved through an intensive and complex computational modeling of raw data to come up with predictive weather models that can reduce economic devastation and save lives (Lenaway et al,. 2006). Indeed various universities in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have developed and implemented computerized models that can mold complex environmental data e.g. day and night humidity differentials and wind activity at different land elevations as a way of developing improved weather forecasting (Shultz, Russell & Espinel, 2005) However, a critical part of weather forecasting as a component of systems thinking is passing the information to the public.
Hurricane Katrina will forever serve as a constant reminder of accurate weather forecasting and analysis that it did not translate to effective use of information. The tragedy of Katrina was as a result of failed delivery of the systems components (Egan, 2007). Extensive investigation and data collection from a variety of sources resulted in accurate weather forecasting that allowed thousands of people to escape the Katrina’s path; however, the local, state and federal application of knowledge failed, and the devastating outcome remains a challenge to systems thinking.
Despite the promise that systems thinking holds for improved understanding of public health issues, few systems initiatives have been fully developed and implemented. The above proposed program can be tested and implemented by effective management of shared knowledge, as well as, effective transfer of such knowledge between different stakeholders in the systems’ environment. Such management requires sophisticated and comprehensive knowledge infrastructure based on existing and new knowledge integration.
References
Egan, M. J. (2007). Anticipating future vulnerability: Defining characteristics of increasingly critical infrastructure‐like systems. Journal of contingencies and crisis management, 15(1), 4-17.
Green, L. W. (2006). Public health asks of systems science: to advance our evidence-based practice, can you help us get more practice-based evidence?. American Journal of Public Health, 96(3), 406.
Lenaway, D., Halverson, P., Sotnikov, S., Tilson, H., Corso, L., & Millington, W. (2006). Public health systems research: setting a national agenda. American Journal of Public Health, 96(3), 410.
Shultz, J. M., Russell, J., & Espinel, Z. (2005). Epidemiology of tropical cyclones: the dynamics of disaster, disease, and development. Epidemiologic Reviews, 27(1), 21-35.
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