Adaptation, Transformation and Resilience in Healthcare; Comment on “Government Actions and Their Relation to Resilience in Healthcare During the COVID-19 Pandemic in New South Wales, Australia and Ontario, Canada”

Document Type : Commentary

Authors

1 Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Uppsala, Sweden

2 The PRODEO Institute, San Francisco, CA, USA

3 IMPACT, The Institute for Mental and Physical Health and Clinical Translation, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia

4 Global Brain Health Institute, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), San Francisco, CA, USA

5 Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland

6 Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA

7 Neurosience-inspired Policy Initiative, Organisation for Economic CoOperation and Development (OECD), Paris, France

8 Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, Dallas, TX, USA

9 Department of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

10 Orygen Youth Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

11 The Florey Institute for Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

12 Center for Resilience in Agricultural Working Landscapes, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska – Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA

13 US Army Engineer Research and Development Center, Concord, MA, USA

14 Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Abstract

Adaptive capacity is a critical component of building resilience in healthcare (RiH). Adaptive capacity comprises the ability of a system to cope with and adapt to disturbances. However, “shocks,” such as the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, can potentially exceed critical adaptation thresholds and lead to systemic collapse. To effectively manage healthcare systems during periods of crises, both adaptive and transformative changes are necessary. This commentary discusses adaptation and transformation as two complementary, integral components of resilience and applies them to healthcare. We treat resilience as an emergent property of complex systems that accounts for multiple, often disparately distinct regimes in which multiple processes (eg, adaptation, recovery) are subsumed and operate. We argue that Convergence Mental Health and other transdisciplinary paradigms such as Brain Capital and One Health can facilitate resilience planning and management in healthcare systems.

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Main Subjects

  • epublished Author Accepted Version: February 12, 2022
  • epublished Final Version: February 28, 2022

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International Journal of Health Policy and Management
Volume 11, Issue 9
September 2022
Pages 1949-1952

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History

  • Receive Date: 21 December 2021
  • Revise Date: 03 February 2022
  • Accept Date: 09 February 2022
  • First Publish Date: 12 February 2022

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