title: Improving processes through evolutionary optimization.
abstract: As systems evolve over time, their natural tendency is to become increasingly more complex. Studies on complex systems have generated new perspectives on management in social organizations such as hospitals. Much of this research appears as a natural extension of the cross-disciplinary field of systems theory. This is the 18th in a series of articles applying complex systems science to the traditional management concepts of planning, organizing, directing, coordinating, and controlling. In this article, I discuss methods to optimize complex healthcare processes through learning, adaptation, and evolutionary planning.
authors: School of Nursing, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA. clanc027@umn.edu
authors: Thomas R
authors: TR
authors: Clancy
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006285:Health Planning / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D017146:Models, Organizational; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D013598:Systems Theory; D014481:United States