How learning health systems can future-proof healthcare
Preparing for pandemics and climate change
February 2023
A new whitepaper demonstrates how to build a health system that is better equipped to deal with future pandemics and the impact of climate change on human health.
The research team led by Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite, Founding Director of the Australian Institute of Health Innovation and lead investigator with the NHMRC Partnership Centre for Health System Sustainability, conducted a rapid review of the literature on six key themes to understand how healthcare organisations can be strategically enabled to become next generation Learning Health Systems (LHS).
The concept of a LHS was proposed as a health system that combines science, informatics, culture, and incentives to produce high quality care, and continuous improvement and innovation in the health system, says Professor Braithwaite.
Recent years have concretely shown the need for strengthened, robust healthcare systems which provide high quality care to patients with increasingly complex needs.
Most of the existing research builds upon the original LHS framework proposed by the National Academy of Medicine (NAM; then the Institute of Medicine (IoM)). The COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity for healthcare organisations to utilise LHS principles in their health setting, but few studies examined how the LHS could be used to prepare better for the next pandemic. No studies explored how the LHS could be used to assist healthcare organisations to prepare for the impact that climate change will have on human health and health systems.
The findings from this white paper argue for health systems to use LHS frameworks, modelling and principles to manage the challenges presented by the current pandemic and the intensification of climate change, ultimately assisting those on the front lines of care to be future-proofed against pandemic- and climate-induced events as they unfold.
Read the white paper here:
Braithwaite, J., Dammery, G., Spanos, S., Smith, C.L., Ellis, L.A., Churruca, K., Fisher, G., Zurynski, Y. Learning health systems 2.0: Future-proofing healthcare against pandemics and climate change. A White Paper. Australian Institute of Health Innovation, Macquarie University: Sydney, Australia, 2023. ISBN: 9781741385014.
CENTRES RELATED TO THIS NEWS
Centre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science
NHMRC Partnership Centre for Health System Sustainability
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