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  • © 2013

Handbook of Systems and Complexity in Health

  • Written by international experts from health services research, primary care, management studies, systems science, and organizational behavior

  • Applies systems science theory to population health and health care systems, with implications for health policy reform

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Table of contents (51 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xxi
  2. Complexity in Health: An Introduction

    • Joachim P. Sturmberg, Carmel M. Martin
    Pages 1-17
  3. Complexity Theory and Methods

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 25-25
    2. Understanding Complex Systems

      • Paul Cilliers
      Pages 27-38
    3. The Complex Nature of Knowledge

      • Joachim P. Sturmberg, Andrew Miles
      Pages 39-62
    4. Mathematical Principles: Tales of Tails

      • Bruce J. West
      Pages 63-80
    5. Modelling

      • Joachim P. Sturmberg, Leonid Churilov, Geoff McDonnell
      Pages 81-111
    6. A Methodology for the Analysis of Medical Data

      • A. Tsanas, M. A. Little, P. E. McSharry
      Pages 113-125
    7. Psychological Rhythmicities

      • Eric E. Hessler, Patrick H. Finan, Polemnia G. Amazeen
      Pages 127-146
    8. Modeling Illness and Recovery with Nonlinear Dynamics

      • Stephen J. Guastello
      Pages 147-156
  4. Dynamics in Human Health

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 157-157
    2. Fractals in Physiology and Medicine

      • Joachim P. Sturmberg, Bruce J. West
      Pages 171-192
    3. Bio-Complexity: Challenging Reductionism

      • Henry H. Q. Heng
      Pages 193-208
  5. Concepts of Health

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 209-209
    2. Trying to Make Sense of Health

      • Stephen Lewis
      Pages 211-216
    3. Picture Health

      • Stefan Topolski
      Pages 217-230
    4. Health: A Personal Complex-Adaptive State

      • Joachim P. Sturmberg
      Pages 231-242

About this book

This book is an introduction to health care as a complex adaptive system, a system that feeds back on itself. The first section introduces systems and complexity theory from a science, historical, epistemological, and technical perspective, describing the principles and mathematics. Subsequent sections build on the health applications of systems science theory, from human physiology to medical decision making, population health and health services research. The aim of the book is to introduce and expand on important population health issues from a systems and complexity perspective, highlight current research developments and their implications for health care delivery, consider their ethical implications, and to suggest directions for and potential pitfalls in the future.

Reviews

From the book reviews:

“The book has appeal for health professionals including practitioners, educators, researchers, policy makers, and health administrators, as well as graduate students. … It acknowledges a new role for educators -- to shake up ideas and to introduce students to networks, connections, and the contexts in which health occurs -- to instill a passion for lifelong learning. These features set this book apart and make it a welcome addition to the healthcare policy literature.” (Carole Ann Kenner, Doody’s Book Reviews, January, 2015)

Editors and Affiliations

  • , Department of General Practice, Monash University, Wamberal, Australia

    Joachim P. Sturmberg

  • Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Chicago, USA

    Carmel M. Martin

About the editors

Joachim P Sturmberg MBBS, DORACOG, MFM, PhD, FRACGP I am Adjunct A/Prof of Monash University, Melbourne, and Conjoint A/Prof of General Practice in the Department of General Practice in the Department of General Practice, General Practice, The Newcastle University, Newcastle, Australia. I am a graduate from Lübeck Medical School, Germany, where I also completed my PhD. Since 1989 I work in an urban group practice on the NSW Central Coast, with a particular interest in the ongoing patient-centred care of patients with chronic disease and the elderly. In 1994 I started to pursue systems and complexity research with an inquiry into the effects of continuity of care on the care processes and outcomes. Since then my research has expanded and includes the areas of understanding the complex notion of health, health care and healthcare reform, showing that health is an interconnected multi-dimensional construct encompassing somatic, psychological, social and semiotic or sense-making domains, that health care has to embrace the patient’s understanding of her health as the basis for effective and efficient care, and that an effective and efficient healthcare system ought to put the patient at the centre. I am joint chief editor of the Forum on Systems and Complexity in Medicine and Healthcare in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice. Together with Carmel Martin and Jim Price I chair the Complexity SIG in WONCA.

Carmel C Martin MBBS, MSc, PhD, MRCGP, FRACGP, FAFPHM I am Visiting Academic Department of Public Health and Primary Care, Trinity College, Dublin, and an Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. I am active in clinical general practice with a particular interest in chronic disease and illness and patient centered care and integrated care using information technology, informed by complex adaptive systems theories. I am an Australian medical graduate from the University of Queensland. I completed my Masters in Community Medicine at the London School of Hygiene, University of London and my PhD at the Australian National University. My research in Australia, Canada and Ireland has focused on reforms related to primary health care and chronic care, the nature of health in body, mind, society and the environment and meaning and sensemaking about personal health. My PhD. on the care of chronic illness in general practice, explored the nature of the experience of illness and care associated with multi-morbidity from the perspectives of those afflicted and their general practitioner/primary care physician as the key ‘users’ of care. This PhD led to a wide range of systems based interventions, underpinned by complex adaptive systems theory and social constructionist perspectives in Australia, Canada and Ireland. I am joint chief editor of the Forum on Systems and Complexity in Medicine and Healthcare in the Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Handbook of Systems and Complexity in Health

  • Editors: Joachim P. Sturmberg, Carmel M. Martin

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4998-0

  • Publisher: Springer New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Medicine, Medicine (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4939-2255-0Published: 28 October 2014

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4614-4998-0Published: 09 January 2013

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XXI, 954

  • Number of Illustrations: 103 b/w illustrations, 165 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Health Administration, Complexity, Epidemiology

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access