Abstract: Engineering has and will continue to have a critical impact on
healthcare; the application of technology-based techniques to biological
problems can be defined to be technobiology applications. This paper is
primarily focused on applying the technobiology approach of systems engineering
to the development of a healthcare service system that is both integrated and
adaptive. In general, healthcare services are carried out with
knowledge-intensive agents or components which work together as providers and
consumers to create or co-produce value. Indeed, the engineering design of a
healthcare system must recognize the fact that it is actually a complex
integration of human-centered activities that is increasingly dependent on
information technology and knowledge. Like any service system, healthcare can
be considered to be a combination or recombination of three essential
components – people (characterized by behaviors, values, knowledge, etc.),
processes (characterized by collaboration, customization, etc.) and products
(characterized by software, hardware, infrastructures, etc.). Thus, a
healthcare system is an integrated and adaptive set of people, processes and
products. It is, in essence, a system of systems which objectives are to
enhance its efficiency (leading to greater interdependency) and effectiveness
(leading to improved health). Integration occurs over the physical, temporal,
organizational and functional dimensions, while adaptation occurs over the
monitoring, feedback, cybernetic and learning dimensions. In sum, such service
systems as healthcare are indeed complex, especially due to the uncertainties
associated with the human-centered aspects of these systems. Moreover, the
system complexities can only be dealt with methods that enhance system
integration and adaptation.
