source – an invitation to engage
RUM – Really Useful Models | OpenDataSavesLives

RUM – Really Useful Models

05 January 2022By Peter Lacey, Director, Whole Systems Partnership

Just as patients often assume that information about them is shared by different parts of the health system there might be an assumption that when a really useful simulation model is developed it would be picked up and used elsewhere. We have some good examples of this, including work supporting more than 20 local systems to model the impact of COVID using the same model and a standard set of initialisation data tailored for each system. However, generally the spread and adoption of the models we build is limited.

We have explored several barriers to this including the ‘not invented here’ syndrome, or unfamiliarity with even the basics of system dynamics modeling, which is our tool of choice for strategic challenges in complex systems. There has been academic reflection on these challenges but we are confident that there is a way to break through.