Document Detail


What can complexity do for diabetes management? Linking theory to practice.
MedLine Citation:
PMID:  19674232     Owner:  NLM     Status:  MEDLINE    
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
BACKGROUND: Diabetes presents a multifaceted picture with its rapidly rising prevalence associated with changing demographics and increasing levels of obesity in the developed world. Deaths from diabetes are predicted to rise by 25% over the next 10 years. The enormity of this public health challenge has been recognized the world over, but little attention has been paid to the theoretical frameworks underpinning practical management. AIM: This paper aims to introduce complexity theory and discuss its practical application to diabetes, focusing on a single 'tool' to provide an example of how theory can be linked to practice. APPLICATION: Critics have questioned the all inclusive nature of complexity seeing it as an intangible concept that fails to offer anything new to health care. However, few have appraised its practical application to a chronic disease that is currently managed using an outdated, linear, reduce and resolve model which fails to address the multiple interacting systems inherent within this condition. DISCUSSION: This article proposes that complexity theory provides an interprofessional perspective for describing and understanding the processes involved, and provides working 'tools' for patients, carers and practitioners that capture the reality of managing this chronic disease in modern life.
Authors:
Helen C Cooper; Robert Geyer
Publication Detail:
Type:  Journal Article    
Journal Detail:
Title:  Journal of evaluation in clinical practice     Volume:  15     ISSN:  1365-2753     ISO Abbreviation:  J Eval Clin Pract     Publication Date:  2009 Aug 
Date Detail:
Created Date:  2009-08-13     Completed Date:  2009-12-22     Revised Date:  -    
Medline Journal Info:
Nlm Unique ID:  9609066     Medline TA:  J Eval Clin Pract     Country:  England    
Other Details:
Languages:  eng     Pagination:  761-5     Citation Subset:  IM    
Affiliation:
Community and Child Health, University of Chester, Chester, UK. h.cooper@chester.ac.uk
Export Citation:
APA/MLA Format     Download EndNote     Download BibTex
MeSH Terms
Descriptor/Qualifier:
Diabetes Mellitus / therapy*
Disease Management*
Great Britain
Humans
Interprofessional Relations
Models, Theoretical*

From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine


Previous Document:  Lessons from Jurassic Park: patients as complex adaptive systems.
Next Document:  'It just doesn't seem to fit'. Environmental illness, corporeal chaos and the body as a complex syst...