Healthcare’s wicked questions: A complexity approach.


The previous President’s Column explored Glouberman and Zimmerman’s (2002) differentiation of complex problems versus those that fall under the domains of simple or complicated, concluding with an invitation to enter the fray for health care’s future state (Valeras, 2019). In this second column on the subject of complexity, the author invites us to continue to explore the topic of complexity and embrace it within health care, rather than shy away from it, in order influence the future state. One tactic, when engaging with a complex adaptive system, is to ask Wicked Questions. Williamson (2015) defines Wicked Questions as what is used to to expose the assumptions which shape our actions and choices. Some of the Wicked Questions that can be asked regarding the U.S. health care system are discussed. Exploring complexity and complex adaptive systems may provide the way forward for the challenges we face in health care. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)