The importance of healthcare was never felt so keenly as during the COVID-19 pandemic. In its aftermath, there is a greater appreciation of the need to proactively build resilient and high-quality health systems, and to explore new innovations. With a rapidly ageing population, the burden of disease will increase even as the pool of potential care providers decreases. At the same time, the cost of healthcare needs to be contained, while meeting patient needs and keeping providers motivated. This calls for radical increases in the productivity of the healthcare sector. In this scenario, there is a need to understand complex systems concepts in assessing the impact of interventions.
This technology-agnostic course will explore the context of the healthcare industry, with a particular focus on Singapore and Asia. Students will understand and apply the concepts of systems thinking and gain hands-on experience in both qualitative and quantitative simulation of health systems through the techniques of system dynamics, discrete event simulation, and agent-based modelling. The course will utilise cases and educational games, but also encourage students to build system simulation models. It will help students to broaden their horizons and develop critical thinking, while gaining practical skills in simulation and understanding the concepts of Digital Twins in social systems.
At the end of the course, you should:
- Have a broad awareness of the care landscape and ecosystem in Singapore.
- Understand and apply the principles of systems thinking.
- Develop and critique causal loop diagrams.
- Design, build and validate a quantitative simulation model of a health system, including collection and validation of input data. Alternatively, develop a smart health software product based on the sponsor’s briefing.