Complexity and clinical care

Abstract

This is the second in a series of four articles Biological and social systems are inherently complex, so it is hardly surprising that few if any human illnesses can be said to have a single “cause” or “cure.”1 This article applies the principles introduced in the introductory article in this series2 to three specific clinical areas: the control of blood glucose levels in diabetes, the management of diagnostic uncertainty, and health promotion. A complex adaptive system is a collection of individual agents with freedom to act in ways that are not always totally predictable, and whose actions are interconnected so that the action of one part changes the context for other agents.2 In relation to human health and illness there are several levels of such systems. For all these reasons neither illness nor human behaviour is predictable and neither can safely be “modelled” in a simple cause and effect system.3 The human body is not a machine and its malfunctioning cannot be adequately analysed by breaking the …

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