| Key Points |
As diagnostic and therapeutic options continue to multiply, and health care services become more and more specialized, they begin to manifest the properties of complex adaptive systems including unforeseen interactions and emergent properties.The consequent risks are often not understood by clinicians and managers, and as this review of Sterman's contributions nicely illustrates, high intelligence and educational achievements are no guarantee of effective problem solving, especially in standard stock and flow problems of a type encountered in bed management on a regular basis in large acute hospitals. The need for specific education in this domain is very clear. |