A brief history of health systems engineering - its early years through 1989: An industrial engineering perspective

In the very early 1900s, there were a few traces of industrial engineering thinking being applied to clinical and administrative activities in hospitals. These discrete efforts did not materialize for several decades until, a little more than fifty years ago, when formal use of industrial engineering in hospitals first surfaced. The profession appeared as a force and coalesced in the 1950s and 1960s. This paper traces the evolution of Industrial Engineering in healthcare from its beginning through the present with an emphasis on the period ending 1989. It discusses the hospital roots of the profession that began with emulating the use of IE in manufacturing (hospital management engineering) and how it has come to embrace various dimensions of healthcare as Health Systems Engineering (HSE). The paper's objective is to provide the background of HSE which includes discussions of the environmental, governmental, and healthcare industry factors that were and remain the impetus for growth of the profession; the various ways by which a healthcare organization can avail itself of securing Health Systems Engineering capabilities; the past and current ways by which practitioners enter the HSE field; the professional organizations to provide easy networking, career development, professional recognition opportunities, and advocacy for the profession; etc.