What nurse leaders should know about complex adaptive systems theory.

The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of key concepts in understanding complex adaptive systems theory (CAS) and its application to nursing management. CAS concerns altering management practice and revolutionizing how nurse leaders think, behave, and problem solve. CAS discards former beliefs and embraces the concepts of self-organization and attractors (catalysts that allow new behaviors to emerge spontaneously) that enable order and creativity to emerge. Stressing that the most powerful processes begin at the micro level of an organization with the staff, complexity science offers nursing leadership new strategies for successfully navigating chaotic, complex times in health care management.