What are the characteristics of a resilient healthcare system: A Scoping Review

Abstract Background System resilience has long been studied, and the term is currently being used in various fields. A series of technical failures in dealing with significant health shocks, most notably Ebola in west Africa and the COVID-19 pandemic, prompted health policymakers to focus more on the context of resilience in healthcare systems. Methods To identify characteristics of Health Care System Resilience, a scoping literature review was conducted using papers published on PubMed, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and Scopus between 01/01/2000 and 01/04/2021. Results A total of 983 relevant publication was identified. Following the screening process, 47 articles met the inclusion criteria. We summarized and classified the resulting dimensions based on six building blocks according to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification and one additional building block we defined. Conclusion Currently, most healthcare systems use non-systematic approaches to address resilience issues. According to our findings: Comprehensive characteristics of health system resilience could aid in developing a systematic approach to implementing a reliable strategy to maintain resilience.