Reflexive Spaces: Leveraging Resilience Into Healthcare Regulation and Management

Abstract

Healthcare is increasingly seen as a complex, adaptive system in which resilience is a key factor in creating patient safety. A need exists to understand how organizations are able to perform with success under varying conditions, that is, to be resilient. So far, the attention in resilience research has been on the sharp end of the system, such as emergency departments and clinicians’ adaptation of work practices to constantly varying conditions. However, we have limited knowledge about the role of regulators and managers in creating and supporting environments that cultivate resilience.1,2 In this article, we argue that (a) regulators and managers need to understand and acknowledge reflexivity as a foundation for resilience in healthcare organizations and that (b) creating and supporting reflexive spaces are a key for leveraging resilience into healthcare regulation and management.