Protocol for a scoping review of work system design in health care

Delivery of safe and reliable healthcare to patients and the healthcare workforce shortage amidst growing demand has been major challenge to the healthcare system. Addressing this challenge calls for designing or redesigning of healthcare work system. Work system design which is usually associated with productivity in manufacturing offers a wide spectrum of applicability in addressing this challenge of healthcare system. Despite the availability of primary studies on work system design in healthcare, there are sparse published reviews in specific contexts. This scoping review explores the existing evidence to understand the state of the art of work system design in healthcare.

The scoping review adopts the methodology of Joanna Briggs Institute for scoping review which is based on the methodological framework of Arksey and O'Malley. The search will be done on PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science for the identification of eligible studies. A grey literature search will also be performed. A two-phase screening and extraction of data will be done by two independent reviewers. Data extraction will be done on a pre-piloted data extraction form. The findings will be presented in tables, figures, and a narrative summary. The scoping review will highlight the state of the art, gaps in knowledge and provide directions for future research.

This is a scoping review of primary studies and therefore ethical approval is not required. The report of the findings will be presented in line with the PRISMA reporting guidelines for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR). The results will be submitted to a peer-reviewed scientific journal for publication and presented at relevant conferences.