Exploring a transition in Dutch healthcare

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Sustainability Studies
• Organizational Change

Background:

• Healthcare systems face persistent challenges including aging populations, chronic diseases, and rising costs.
• Current optimization strategies are reaching their limits, necessitating a fundamental transition.
• Technological advancements contribute to increased healthcare costs and complexity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the transition towards sustainable healthcare in the Netherlands.
• To analyze the experiences of healthcare organizations participating in a learning program focused on sustainable healthcare.
• To identify factors facilitating and hindering this transition from an organizational perspective.

Main Methods:

• Combines conceptual frameworks from transition research with empirical, longitudinal study.
• Analyzes the development of participating healthcare organizations post-expedition.
• Utilizes transition research frameworks to conceptualize persistent problems and dynamics within the healthcare system.

Main Results:

• Confirmed persistent sustainability challenges in healthcare.
• Sustainable healthcare requires transformation in culture, structures, and practices, fostering cross-domain collaboration.
• Problem structuring and collective identification of unsustainability are crucial for shared understanding and driving change.

Conclusions:

• A transition towards sustainable healthcare is emerging in the Dutch system but remains under-researched.
• This paper empirically describes a transition management process within healthcare organizations.
• Provides a foundation for future research on healthcare transitions in theory and practice.