A Conversation with Nurse
Educators: Introducing Complexity
in Nursing Curricula
Nursing Network Call,
August 1 2012
The Care We Give

The very first requirement in a hospital is
that it should do the sick no harm.
Florence Nightingale, 1859
Yet harm is done every day
 We need a new paradigm of care
 Changing the paradigm will require new
ways of preparing the present and future
generations of health care professionals

Nursing Education
Current research is exploring the
complexity and impact of nursing care
 Benner et al. (2010) have challenged nurse
educators to re-invent the model of
nursing education
 AACN Essentials for BSN, MSN AND
DNP have noted the importance of
teaching complexity science

Where We Go From Here

Nursing Education Resources website
was created to collect information

Discussion occurred June 8 to 15, 2010
◦ 13 participants
◦ 47 posted entries
◦ 100+ identified resources!

Other resources added at the conference
Suggested Nursing Textbooks




Lindberg, C., Nash, S., & Lindberg, C. (2008). On the
edge: Nursing in the age of complexity. Bordentown, NJ:
Plexus Institute Press.
Zimmerman, B., Lindberg, C., & Plsek, P. (2001). Edgeware:
Lessons from complexity science for health care leaders.
Dallas:VHA.
Ray, M. (2009). Transcultural caring dynamics in nursing and
health care. Philadelphia: FA Davis.
Doane, G.H., & Varcoe, C. (2004). Family nursing as
relational inquiry: Developing health-promoting practice.
New York: Lippincott Williams Wilkins.
Some Newer Books
Inviting everyone: Healing healthcare
through positive deviance (2010)
 Complexity and the nexus of leadership:
Leveraging science to create ecologies of
innovation (2010)
 Connected (2009)

Suggested Journal Articles
Organizational Complexity column in
Journal of Nursing Administration
 Bibliography includes topics:

◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
◦
Complexity science
Nursing and health care as complex systems
Leadership and organizational behavior
Social networks
Managing innovation
Diversity and cultural competence
Sensemaking
Research
Interesting Websites
National Patient Safety information http://www.npsf.org/
 Redesigning Health Care with Insights from
the Science of Complex Adaptive Systems http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?recor
d_id=10027&page=309
 AACN Cultural Competence http://www.aacn.nche.edu/Education/pdf/
Cultural_Competency_Toolkit_Grad.pdf

More Websites
http://transformativelearningtheory.com/c
orePrinciples.html
 http://www.knowledgejump.com/
 http://www.systemsthinking.org/index.htm

More Websites





http://www.presencing.com
/node/109
http://www.aachonline.org/
http://www.umich.edu/~refj
udg/assessingreflectivejudg
ment.html
http://www.chaordic.org/lib
rary.html
http://cas.psu.edu/docs/CA
SPROF/keystone21/uniscop
e/default.htm





http://www.ewenger.com
/theory/index.htm
http://www.carnegiefoun
dation.org/nursingeducation
http://www.beyondintrac
tability.org/essay/framing/
http://www.ebnp.org/
http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=IVHbty3iI9k
And More Websites





http://www.metareflections.blogspot.com
http://www.drdansiegel.com/
http://books.nap.edu/openbo
ok.php?isbn=0309063639
http://theleadershipcircle.co
m/
http://www.criticalthinking.or
g/



http://sites.google.com/sit
e/creativepowersite/about
-dr-william-e-smith-phd
http://www.wisconline.com/
http://www.qualitymatters.
org/
Complexity Science Courses
◦ Ruth Anderson
 Managing Complex Systems in
Health Care
◦ Joan Engebretson
 Complexity Applied to Health
Care
◦ Lois Hamel
 3rd On The Edge Conference
taken for course credit
Applications of CAS Principles

Beth Boynton

Complexity science principles in
communication and collaboration

Sheila Ryan
◦ Transformational Leadership

Sue Nash
◦ Family Nursing

Tom Clancy
◦ System Design and Analysis
Teaching Strategies
Powerpoint Presentations
Clinical Reasoning
 Creating Change in Complex Systems

Ways to Understand
Recreating conversation with liberating
structures
 Personal case studies
 Reflection - “Befuddlement” paper
 Short stories, such as Visit from the
Footbinder by Emily Prager
 Videos, such as New Year Baby by Socheata
Poeuv, at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClQW
NLeXFGo

Simulations

Boids, Craig Reynolds http://www.red3d.com/cwr/boids/,
http://www.navgen.com/3d_boids/

NetLogo website http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/
Great Videos and Movies

Emergence - Complexity from Simplicity,
Order from Chaos, John Holland
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdQgoNitl1g
◦ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5NRNG1r_jI&NR
=1
What the Bleep Do We Know?
 The Elegant Universe
 Interviews of Complexity Experts

◦ Gonzaga University School of Nursing
Specific Topics
Principles of complex adaptive systems
 Positive deviance
 Appreciative inquiry
 Interdisciplinary collaboration/relationship
 Social networks
 Transcultural caring
 Leadership – generative, transformational,
dialogic

Other Ideas

Newsletters
◦ Confident Voices for Nurses: The Resource
for Creating Positive Workplaces,
http://confidentvoices.com/www.confidentvoic
es.com/eNewsletter_Archives.html
Use of Wiki for sharing
 Other –

◦ Doctoral Dissertation of Kristen Crusoe
◦ Podcast on horizontal violence in nursing
We Need Your Ideas!
During this session, we ask you to share
what you have found useful in teaching
and learning about complexity
 We will then continue to add to this list
and post to the Plexus Nursing Network
website
