System Thinking in Perioperative Medicine

Health care is a complex system and can be viewed at micro, meso, and macrosystem levels. System thinking involves defining the boundaries of the system under study, analyzing the components that make up the system, and understanding how those components interact. In addition, stakeholders need to be identified and their perspectives understood. System thinking uses both habits and tools to reveal processes, patterns, and underlying mental models that affect the behavior of the system. Using system thinking in perioperative medicine provides opportunities to work across and outside of the immediate healthcare system and realize the opportunity to improve population health.