International Journal of Health Policy and Management

International Journal of Health Policy and Management

Providers and Patients Caught Between Standardization and Individualization: Individualized Standardization as a Solution; Comment on “(Re) Making the Procrustean Bed? Standardization and Customization as Competing Logics in Healthcare”

Document Type : Commentary

Authors
Lena Ansmann
Holger Pfaff
Institute of Medical Sociology, Health Services Research and Rehabilitation Science, Faculty of Human Sciences and Faculty of Medicine, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
10.15171/ijhpm.2017.95
Abstract
In their 2017 article, Mannion and Exworthy provide a thoughtful and theory-based analysis of two parallel trends in modern healthcare systems and their competing and conflicting logics: standardization and customization. This commentary further discusses the challenge of treatment decision-making in times of evidence-based medicine (EBM), shared decision-making and personalized medicine. From the perspective of systems theory, we propose the concept of individualized standardization as a solution to the problem. According to this concept, standardization is conceptualized as a guiding framework leaving room for individualization in the patient physician interaction. The theoretical background is the concept of context management according to systems theory. Moreover, the comment suggests multidisciplinary teams as a possible solution for the integration of standardization and individualization, using the example of multidisciplinary tumor conferences and highlighting its limitations. The comment also supports the authors’ statement of the patient as co-producer and introduces the idea that the competing logics of standardization and individualization are a matter of perspective on macro, meso and micro levels.
Keywords
Standardization
Customization
Individualization
Guidelines
Decision-Making
Tumor
Conferences
Subjects
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International Journal of Health Policy and Management
Volume 7, Issue 4
2018
Pages 349-352

  • Received Date 14 June 2017
  • Revised Date 31 July 2017
  • Accepted Date 01 August 2017
  • First Published Date 01 April 2018
  • Published Date 01 April 2018