Learning Health Systems Are Resilient Health Systems; Comment on "Re-evaluating Our Knowledge of Health System Resilience During COVID-19: Lessons From the First Two Years of the Pandemic"

Abstract

Saulnier’s review, "Re-evaluating Our Knowledge of Health System Resilience During COVID19: Lessons From the First Two Years of the Pandemic", analyzes health systems resilience in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. A key finding was the importance of learning. In this commentary, we argue that strengthening systems-level learning capabilities could build resilient health systems. Drawing on learning theories and evidence from organizational resilience and management scholarship, we link the concept of learning loops with Blanchet’s resilience capacities framework, demonstrating the importance of higher levels of learning to build adaptive and transformative resilience capacities. We also argue for an increased focus on power analysis to analyze what is learned, who learns it, and who responds as determining factors to adaptation and transformation. Future research should empirically investigate the extent to which different types of learning supports – or impedes – the building of resilient health systems.