Wednesday 11 March 2026 | 13:00 - 14:00
Stream: Safety

Despite our best efforts, progress in improving the experience of giving and receiving care has too often fallen short. This session explores how the complexity of healthcare’s 'socio-technical' systems can contribute to this lack of progress and how a Care Operating System (CareOS) approach can help organisations overcome these barriers. Using real-world examples, the presenters will illustrate how the IHI CareOS framework enables health systems to design for resilience, reduce cognitive overload, and create the conditions for better outcomes for patients and staff. Participants will leave with practical insights and guidance on how to apply and scale this approach within their own systems and settings.

After this session, participants will be able to:

• Understand how healthcare’s socio-technical system has emerged and how it is different from highly reliable industries that we often seek to compare to.
• Describe the need for an organizational approach to limiting clinician cognitive overload by designing a system that provides the right insights at the right time directly within the clinical workflow.
• Articulate how an operating system can serve as a major driver of the desired organizational culture, workforce engagement, productivity, efficiency and clinical outcomes.
• Understand how a care operating system optimizes the technology that health systems have already invested in to deliver the best possible value while enabling highly efficient and effective care and system re-design.

Susan Hannah Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI); UK
Joshua Clark Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI); USA