Building Resilient Healthcare Systems with ICTs

COVID-19 has reinforced the need for resilient healthcare systems. Resilience in its broad sense refers to the ability to adapt to or mitigate adverse events or conditions. On one hand, resilience can be built through loosely coupled systems which could then enable such systems flexibility to adapt to adverse events. On the other hand, Information Communication technologies (ICTs) can be built within healthcare systems to detect and or mitigate adverse events. A typical example of resilient healthcare systems is portrayed through how various healthcare systems managed to adapt to the COVID-19 pandemic by taking advantage of opportunities brought forth by ICTs. In this case, we have seen many doctors adopting online consultations, and other innovative ways of providing healthcare. Beyond the COVID-19 era, there is a need to re-imagine how ICTs could be adopted in healthcare to ensure resilience in the advent of any future adverse events. It is in this context that this book portrays how ICTs could be used to build resilient healthcare systems.

One of the challenges encountered in the provision of healthcare is the inability of healthcare systems to adapt to or respond adequately to adverse events (pandemics or otherwise) especially in resource Limited settings. Thus, this book highlights various ways ICTs could help build resilience within healthcare systems. The value of this book stems from the multi-perspectives stance of the book highlighting the various contexts in which resilience could be built within healthcare systems. This book will help stakeholders in the provision of healthcare incorporate ICTs in the healthcare systems to ensure resilience. It also portrays practical implications of and the value derived from building resilience in healthcare systems. This book is suitable to healthcare executives who may want to know how to incorporate resilience in health systems through ICTs and the value that such ICTs may create. The book is also valuable to healthcare practitioners who may want to harness the value of technological innovations by building resilient healthcare systems.