Complexity Science in Health Care Settings

I've recently come across an interesting field of study called complexity science. After doing moderate personal research about the topic, I figured that I might as well blog about it. At first, I thought that complexity science may not have as much relevance to health care as I'd initially thought. But as I learned more about complexity science and read the the work of scholars within the industry, I began to understand the manner in which complexity science applies to health care. Simply put, complexity science focuses upon the observation and understanding of systems that contain various working, connected, and interwoven processes. The complexity of such systems creates environments and interactions that are troublesome to predict, and outcomes that are difficult to foresee. Making a prediction concerning the output of a complex system is similar to attempting to predict the thought that will be on your mind 6 hours from now; there are simply too many influences, possibilities, uncertainties, and interactions to make an accurate prediction. Examples of such systems include the stock market, social insect and ant colonies, the biosphere and the ecosystem, the brain and the immune system, cities, manufacturing businesses, and any human social group-based endeavor in a cultural and social system.

Complex adaptive systems are consistently composed of these foundational characteristics:

• Interconnections

• Dynamic systems

• Rules and governance

• Individual Agents

Health care settings are domains where a multiplicity of human interactions, social interactions, economic interactions, financial interactions, and political interactions take place. From my readings, I gathered that there are managerial and leadership approaches that scholars recommend in order to thwart the unique challenges presented by complex adaptive systems. Firstly, it is imperative that administrators, managers, and leaders understand the characteristics which typically comprise organizations that are labeled as complex adaptive systems. Secondly, decision makers must come to view employees as capable, potential-filled, and efficacious. At every level, there exist employees that can bring about positive results to a health care organization. Decision makers must not fall victim to acting out the stereotypes of authoritative leadership, but should instead exemplify the many vision oriented practices that have been proven to improve the quality of work of people and organizations. Health care delivery organizations are complex organizational forms, and they operate in an environment that is among the most complex of organizational environments. As managers continue to operate in this context, they will have to become more skilled in managing contradictions and competing demand. I'm going to leave you with something that I read while learning about the topic of complexity science. Either a health care organziation, care provider, or an employee of a health care organization "who acts within the spirit of a complex adaptive system views the patient as a human organism, not an indication for a procedure; understands the patient is embedded in a variety of systems—physiological, family, political, and social".