Skip to main content

Table 1 Characteristics of Complex Adaptive Systems Abstracted

From: The importance of organizational characteristics for improving outcomes in patients with chronic disease: a systematic review of congestive heart failure

Characteristic

Definition

Example

Agents who Learn

• People can and will process information, as well as react to changes in information

• 'Health Buddy' with educational content

• Teach guidelines

Interconnections

• Change in pattern of interactions, including non-verbal communication, among agents

• Introducing new agents into the system

• Letters to patients

• Nurse-led heart failure group clinic

• Clinical reminders

Self-organization

• Order is created in a system without explicit hierarchical direction

• Flexibility in tailoring intervention to individual patients

Co-evolution

• The system and the environment influence each other's development

• Individualized 'HOME' treatment plan that changes over time

Back to article page

Implementation Science

ISSN: 1748-5908