Hearing what cannot be said.

Rationale, Aims, And Objectives: The way in which care providers describe incapacitated elderly people is not without implications. The different ways in which they describe their patients-client, patient, or a sick human being-have consequences for their relationships with these patients and the decision-making processes. The aim of this study is to use insights from complexity thinking to understand the dynamic relations between various patient descriptions in decision-making.

Complexity perspectives on clinical decision making in an intensive care unit.

Rationale, Aims, And Objectives: How to clarify the implications of complexity thinking for decision making in the intensive care unit (ICU)?

Method: Retrospective qualitative empirical research. Practitioners in an ICU were interviewed on how their decisions were made regarding a particular patient in a difficult, clinical situation. Transcriptions of these interviews were coded and retrieved in Maxqda, a software program.