A General Systems Theory Approach in Public Hearing Health: Lessons Learned from a Systematic Review of General Systems Theory in Healthcare

Abstract

General Systems Theory (GST), as it was introduced by Karl Ludwig von Bertalannfy, had a significant, yet mostly unacknowledged influence on systems theory. The purpose of the current review is to highlight and assess the application of the aforementioned theory in the healthcare field and suggest a new approach to the public hearing healthcare sector. A systematic literature review has been conducted in the electronic databases of ScienceDirect, Pubmed and IEEEXplore covering the years of 2009-2019, following the PRISMA guidelines. The article selection was performed to identify GST-related frameworks in the healthcare field and was completed through a process of removing duplicates and non-available articles, analyzing the tittle and abstract, and then reviewing the full text of each selected article. In the final analysis, 47 studies were selected and were thoroughly analysed. Almost half of these articles showed a practical implementation of GST-inspired frameworks, following different types of research methodology. Analysis of these methodologies identified the limitations and positive effects of GST in the healthcare field. Although there is a significant number of references in GST in the healthcare field over the last 10 years, applications of it need to be further tested and explored before they are put into real-situation testing. Simulation models and evidence-based approaches on a micro-, meso- and macro-level of systems should be used to provide the contextual information needed for establishing GST as a driving force in the healthcare field. To this context, a paradigm of GST data framework applied to the hearing loss screening area is hereby presented and discussed. It is shown that a GST approach can be used to identify equilibria in all levels, to balance gain and prediction capacity over time and enhance public hearing health approaches for treatment and management strategies.