COVID-19: Exposing the need for emergency management to invest in systems thinking
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5055/jem.0607Keywords:
COVID-19, systems thinking, EM systemsAbstract
The COVID-19 pandemic exposed numerous challenges in the emergency management (EM) response system. The article contends that had EM deliberately and systematically engaged in systems thinking; it would have been better able to anticipate and respond to many of the challenges. Reasons for EM not fully embracing systems thinking are discussed, including the perception that it is complex and theoretical. This article attempts to dispel these beliefs by first demonstrating how many systems-thinking concepts are already embedded in the EM ethos and then by illustrating the application of system principles in the context of the COVID-19 response. This article concludes by recommending EM invest in training to encourage the systematic application of system principles in emergency preparedness and response.
References
CDC: Centers for Disease Control: Cases in the US 2020. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/casesupdates/cases-in-us.html. Accessed November 8, 2020.
FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency: Homeland Security and Exercise Evaluation Program (HSEEP). 2020. Available at https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1582669862650-94efb-02c8373e28cadf57413ef293ac6/Homeland-Security-Exercise-and-Evaluation-Program-Doctrine-2020-Revision-2-2-25.pdf. Accessed March 30, 2020.
Jackson BA, Faith KS, Willis HH: Evaluating the reliability of emergency response systems for large-scale incident operations. Rand Health Q. 2012; 2(3). Available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4945240/. Accessed November 8, 2020.
Jonas O: The lesson is to never forget. The Harvard Gazette. 2020. Available at https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/05/harvard-expert-compares-1918-flu-covid-19/. Accessed November 8, 2020.
Liu W, Hu G, Li J: Emergency resources demand prediction using case based reasoning. Saf Sci. 2012; 50(3): 530-534.
Friedman M: Trying Hard is Not Good Enough: How to Produce Measurable Improvements for Customers and Communities. Victoria, BC: Trafford, 2005.
Mandelbrot B: Fractals and the art of roughness. TED talk. 2010. Available at https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=fractal+theory+mandelbrot&docid=608055373715276727&mid=8578090566F8D9987C3A8578090566F8D9987C3A&view=detail&FORM=VIRE. Accessed September 22, 2020.
Renger R: Pima County Health Department COVID-19 response: Evaluation. Unpublished report. 2020.
Arnold RD, Wade JP: A definition of systems thinking: A systems approach. Procedia Comput Sci. 2015; 44(2015): 669-678.
Ison RL: Systems thinking and practice for action research. In Reason PW, Bradbury H (eds.): The Sage Handbook of Action Research Participative Inquiry and Practice. 2nd ed. London, UK: Sage Publications, 2008: 139-158.
FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency: Principles of emergency management. 2007. Available at https://www.fema.gov/media-library/assets/documents/25063. Accessed March 30, 2020.
Summers JJ, Anson JG: Current status of the motor program: Revisited. Hum Move Sci. 2009; 28(5): 566-577.
Collins D, Morriss C, Trower J: Getting it back: A case study in skill recovery in an elite athlete. Sports Psychol. 1999; 13(3): 288-298.
von Bertalanffy L: General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications. New York, NY: George Braziller, 1968.
Renger R, Renger J, Basson, MD, et al.: Using the Homeland Security and Exercise Evaluation Program (HSEEP) Building Block Approach to Implement System Evaluation Theory (SET). Amer J Eval. (in press).
Renger R, Foltysova J, Renger J, et al.: Defining systems to evaluate system efficiency and effectiveness. Eval J Australasia. 2017; 17(3): 4-13. DOI: 10.1177/1035719X1701700302.
FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency: Emergency support function annexes: An introduction. 2008. Available at https://www.fema.gov/pdf/emergency/nrf/nrf-esf-intro.pdf. Accessed March 30, 2020.
FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency: National Prevention Framework. 2nd ed. 2016. Available at https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1466017209279-83b72d5959787995794c0874095500b1/National_Prevention_Framework2nd.pdf. Accessed March 30, 2020.
Ackoff R: If Russ Ackoff had given a TED talk. 1994. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqEeIG8aPPk. Accessed March 30, 2020.
Renger R: System evaluation theory (SET): A practical framework for evaluators to meet the challenges of system evaluation. Eval J Australasia. 2015; 15(4): 16-28. DOI: 10.1177%2F1035719X1501500403
McLennan B, Molloy J, Whittaker J, et al.: Centralised coordination of spontaneous emergency volunteers: The EV CREW model. Aust J Emerg Manag. 2016; 31(1): 24-30.
Rivera JD, Wood ZD: Disaster relief volunteerism: Evaluating cities’ planning usage and management of spontaneous volunteers. J Emerg Manag. 2016; 14(2): 127-138. DOI: 10.5055/jem.2016.0279.
Henty SL: 5 Elements of a successful feedback loop. Gravity Flow. 2019. Available at https://gravityflow.io/articles/5-elements-ofa-successful-feedback-loop/. Accessed March 30, 2020.
DHHS: Department of Health and Human Services: Crimson Contagion after action report. 2019. Available at https://archive.org/details/crimson-contagion-2019/page/n1/mode/2up. Accessed November 9, 2020.
Ackoff RL: Towards a system of systems concepts. Manag Sci. 1971; 17(11): 661-671. DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.17.11.661.
Wolski M: System requirements – The context and boundary of a system. 2020. Available at https://michael.wolski.pro/2018/01/system-requirements-the-context-and-boundary-of-the-system/. Accessed September 20, 2020.
Lumen: Biology for majors. Module 2: Chemistry of life. 2020. Available at https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-biology1/chapter/reading-open-and-closed-systems/. Accessed November 7, 2020.
WHO: World Health Organization: Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response: A WHO Guidance Document. 2020. Available at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK143061/. Accessed March 30, 2020.
CDC: Centers for Disease Control: Public Health Emergency Preparedness (PHEP) Cooperative Agreement. 2020. Available at https://www.cdc.gov/cpr/readiness/phep.htm. Accessed November 8, 2020.
Haines SG: Systems Thinking: The New Frontier: Discovering Simplicity in an Age of Complexity. San Diego, CA: Systems Thinking Press, 2011.
Higgins-Dunn N: Watch live: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo holds a press conference on the coronavirus outbreak. CNBC. 2020. Available at https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/31/watch-live-ny-govcuomo-holds-a-press-conference-on-the-coronavirus.html. Accessed March 30, 2020.
Soergel A: States competing in ‘global jungle’ for PPE. US News and World Report. April 7, 2020. Available at https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2020-04-07/states-compete-inglobal-jungle-for-personal-protective-equipment-amid-coronavirus. Accessed November 1, 2020.
Wallach PA, Myers J: The federal government’s coronavirus response – Public health timeline. Brookings. 2020. Available at https://www.brookings.edu/research/the-federal-governmentscoronavirus-actions-and-failures-timeline-and-themes/. Accessed November 8, 2020.
Rouse M: Definition: Feedback loop. TechTarget, 2020. Available at https://searchitchannel.techtarget.com/definition/feedback-loop. Accessed March 30, 2020.
Renger R: Illustrating the evaluation of system feedback mechanisms using system evaluation theory (SET). Eval J Australasia. 2016; 16(4): 14-20. DOI: 10.1177%2F1035719X1601600403
Carter DP, May JP: Making sense of the US COVID-19 pandemic response: A policy regime perspective. Adm Theory Praxis. 2020; 42(2): 265-277. DOI: 10.1080/10841806.2020.1758991.
Piller C: Undermining CDC. Science. 2020; 370: 394-399. DOI: 10.1126/science.370.6515.394.
Gakidou E: Global projections of potential lives saved from COVID-19 through universal mask use. 2020. The IHME COVID-19 Forecasting Team. DOI: 10.1101/2020.10.08.20209510.
ADHS: Arizona Department of Health Services: Highlighted infectious diseases for Arizona. 2020. Available at https://www.azdhs.gov/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/infectiousdisease-epidemiology/index.php#novel-coronavirus-home. Accessed March 30, 2020.
England R: Pima County public health update for Friday March 20, 2020: Test kits and take care of each other. Pima County Health Department. YouTube. 2020. Available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3RVzDHCCGs. Accessed March 30, 2020.
Kean TH, Hamilton LH: The 911 commission report. 2004. Available at https://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf. Accessed March 30, 2020.
Renger R, Granillo B: Using systems evaluation theory to improve points of dispensing planning, training, and evaluation. J Emer Manag. 2018; 16(3): 149-157. DOI: 10.5055/jem.2018.0364.
Feeding America: Feeding America establishes COVID-19 response fund to help food banks during the coronavirus pandemic: Funds will be used to aid the most vulnerable people throughout the country. 2020. Available at https://www.feedingamerica.org. Accessed March 30, 2020.
Groetzinger K: Navajo Families without Internet Struggle to Home School during COVID-19 Pandemic. Guam: National Public Radio (NPR), 2020.
Siegel BE: Coronavirus is closing schools. What does that mean for kids who rely on school meals? Eater. 2020. Available at https://www.eater.com/2020/3/9/21170472/coronavirus-school-closures-freereduced-priced-lunch-student-meals. Accessed March 30, 2020.
NIH: Flatten the curve. Save lives. 2020. Available at https://www.flattenthecurve.com/. Accessed March 30, 2020.
Roberts S: Flattening the coronavirus curve. New York Times. 2020. Available at https://www.nytimes.com/article/flatten-curvecoronavirus.html. Accessed March 30, 2020. Accessed March 30, 2020.
Biology Online: Reflex arc. 2020. Available at https://www.biologyonline.com/dictionary/reflex-arc. Accessed March 30, 2020.
Haines SG: Strategic and Systems Thinking: The Winning Formula. Chula Vista, CA: Systems Thinking Press, 2007.
Masson G: “We’re going to be coding dead people”: Hospitals consider do-not-resuscitate order for all COVID-19 patients. Becker’s hospital review. 2020. Available at https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/public-health/we-re-going-to-be-coding-dead-people-hospitals-consider-do-not-resuscitate-order-for-all-covid-19-patients.html. Accessed March 30, 2020.
Cathey L: Government response updates: Trump says FEMA now coordinating, touts possible drug treatments. ABC News. 2020. Available at https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-heads-femaamid-reports-equipment-shortages-data/story?id=69683701. Accessed March 30, 2020.
Victoria Department of Health and Human Services: Shock. 2020. Available at https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/ConditionsAndTreatments/shock. Accessed March 30, 2020.
Senge P, Hamilton H, Kania J: The dawn of system leadership. Stanford Soc Innov Rev. 2015; 13(1): 27-33.
GAO: Government Accounting Office: COVID-19: Opportunities to improve federal response and recovery efforts. Report to Congress. GAO-20-625. 2020. Available at https://www.gao.gov/reports/GAO-20-625/. Accessed November 8, 2020.
Bonebright DA: 40 years of storming: A historical review of Tuckman’s model of small group development. Hum Resour Dev Int. 2010; 13(1): 111-120. DOI: 10.1080/13678861003589099.
DHS: Department of Homeland Security: National Preparedness System. 2011. Available at https://www.fema.gov/pdf/prepared/nps_description.pdf. Accessed March 30, 2020.
Cavallo A: Integrating disaster preparedness and resilience: A complex approach using system of systems. Aust J Emerg Manag. 2014; 29(3): 46.
Große C: Applying systems thinking onto emergency response planning: Using soft systems methodology to structure a national act in Sweden. In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Operations Research and Enterprise Systems (ICORES 2017). vol. 2. SciTePress, 2017: 288-297. DOI: 10.5220/0006126202880297.
Haibo Z, Xing T: Structural change in China’s emergency management: Theoretical generalizations. Soc Sci China. 2016; 37(2): 77-98. DOI: 10.1080/02529203.2016.1162010.
Argyris C: Teaching smart people how to learn. Harvard Bus Rev. 1991; 69(3): 99-109.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright 2007-2023, Weston Medical Publishing, LLC and Journal of Emergency Management. All Rights Reserved
