Restructuring Japanese Health Care System and Health Promotion System in the Future-Mechanical System and Complexity Adaptive System-

Abstract

The system is defined as a network of mutually dependent separate components that cooperate with each other to achieve an objective. Systems can be categorized into the mechanical system having the mechanical nature and the adaptive system adjusting itself depending on the situation. Systems can also be categorized into the mechanical system having the mechanical nature and the adaptive system adjusting itself depending on the situation. For the mechanical system, it is obvious how its components react to a stimulus and the reaction can be accurately predicted. This allows a statistical management approach to effectively work. In contrast, the adaptive system has components that initiate very diverse and basically unpredictable reactions to a stimulus. Systems containing human components are considered as a typical adaptive system. For the adaptive system, the concepts of normalization and standardization are not effective and it is important to orient complicated system behaviors toward a certain objective with a comparatively simple principle. The health care system is intrinsically an adaptive system comprised of patients and health care providers who have the ability to learn from experiences and change themselves. The behaviors of patients and health care providers cannot always be predicted and may transform their imminent environment or a broader environment.In the health care fields, many unpredictable behaviors specific to the complexity adaptive system can be observed. A feature of the health care system that other industries do not have is that the zones of the mechanical system and complexity adaptive system must be concurrently managed. Although most businesses provide within the zone of the mechanical system at present, when businesses will explore opportunities in the zone of the complexity adaptive system, the industries will learn a great deal from the health care system management.