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Using simplified chaos theory to manage nursing services
Author(s) -
HAIGH CAROL A.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of nursing management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.925
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1365-2834
pISSN - 0966-0429
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2834.2007.00833.x
Subject(s) - service (business) , nursing management , process management , plan (archaeology) , nursing , computer science , trajectory , point (geometry) , service management , operations management , medicine , business , marketing , engineering , mathematics , physics , geometry , archaeology , astronomy , history , supply chain , supply chain management
Aims The purpose of this study was to evaluate the part simplified chaos theory could play in the management of nursing services. Background As nursing care becomes more complex, practitioners need to become familiar with business planning and objective time management. There are many time‐limited methods that facilitate this type of planning but few that can help practitioners to forecast the end‐point outcome of the service they deliver. Methods A growth model was applied to a specialist service to plot service trajectory. Results Components of chaos theory can play a role in forecasting service outcomes and consequently the impact upon the management of such services. Implications for nursing management The ability to (1) track the trajectory of a service and (2) manipulate that trajectory by introducing new variables can allow managers to forward plan for service development and to evaluate the effectiveness of a service by plotting its end‐point state.