ABSTRACT
The scientific model is predicated on rational reductionism whose epistemology retains the notion of linearity, expressed as regular, proportionate complexity in primary care and stable relationships between cause and eect. The distinction between chaos and complexity explains why early research into the implications of non-linear systems for clinical medicine focused on the complexity in primary care relevance of chaotic mathematical modelling to clinical issues. This chapter describes a number of successful, explicit applications of an approach to organisational development and healthcare policy based on a clear understanding of complex adaptive systems. Trust arose from the conversations, or complex responsive processes, whose patterning co-created the system's self-organisation, which is expressed in the new conditions for joint working. The chapter argues that there is a connection between an explanatory model, its epistemological framework and the tacit acceptance of a related world-view, or ontological perspective.
