title: Systems and complexity thinking in general practice: part 1 - clinical application.
abstract: Many problems encountered in general practice cannot be sufficiently explained within the Newtonian reductionist paradigm. Systems and complexity thinking - already widely adopted in most nonmedical disciplines - describes and explores the contextual nature of questions posed in medicine, and in general practice in particular. This article briefly describes the framework underpinning systems and complexity sciences. A case study illustrates how systems and complexity thinking can help to better understand the contextual nature of patient presentations, and how different approaches will lead to different outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Practice, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. jp.sturmberg@gmail.com
authors.forename: Joachim P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Sturmberg
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care; D005194:Family Practice / Q000639:trends*; D005544:Forecasting; D006694:Holistic Health; D006801:Humans; D017146:Models, Organizational; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D018802:Patient-Centered Care; D011340:Problem Solving; D013598:Systems Theory; D013850:Thinking