| Research in Chaos and Complexity |
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One may assume they know what Chaos and Complexity mean, but an overconfident assumption can quickly lead to confusion and misunderstanding before we start. Many colleagues in the field of medicine jump in head first with little knowledge of a vast scientific literature already accomplished. Therein lies a risk of confusion sown far and wide. What we speak of here are chaos and complexity as specific terms already clearly defined and widely published in scientific journals. These fields of chaos theory and complex systems have made significant contributions to all major branches of science. They help shape the physics and biology as well as evolutionary theory, the social sciences, and other fields of enquiry as far from science as art and the aesthetic. Studying chaos and complexity can bring subtle yet profoundly beautiful insights into how science may intersect with the richly human questions of what is health, what is illness, and what brings happiness to life in community. In many ways researching chaos and complexity helps science catch up to what we had intuited and even called good old-fashioned common sense. For over a decade we have further tested various sociological, ethical, and organizational hypotheses through Caring in Community's real world projects to improve human health, health care, and the larger community which depends on them. We continue to push the envelope of this research into the chaos of human illness and the complexity of health.
Publications
Conference Presentations(PDF presentation, 8.2 MB) (PDF, 4.1 MB)
Stefan Topolski, MD is a practicing family physician and assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. His interest in nonlinear dynamics began in the social sciences at Brandeis University and grew in the Family Medicine department at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He continued his studies with a year of post-graduate research before completing his specialty training. After a thesis describing the qualitative modeling of nonlinear dynamics in physician education he has spent over 10 years with 21st century tools testing complex systems principles in practice as an old-time country doctor. We have found that the simple traditional ethic of helping others quickly runs afoul in the morass of modern medicine and a sick and broken U.S. health care system. Appreciating complexity became a crucial lynchpin in developing a tool to handle the chaos. This successful computer tool became the world's first free, open source, and cross platform Electronic Medical Record (EMR) CottageMed. Understanding root causes of chaos and complexity continues to remain core to our success in providing affordable and accessible quality care to all in need that is sustainable without crushing debt or unfair government subsidy. Since 2007 we have been returning our attention to teaching and the study of the theory and practice of Family Medicine. Dr. Topolski has written numerous essays and presented current research at national meetings of the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine and the Society for Chaos Theory on Psychology and Life Sciences along with international meetings of the North American Primary Care Research Group and the World Organization of Family Doctors. Links
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