Table 1 Natural properties and features of complex systems
| Properties of complex systems | Healthcare manifestations |
| Natural networks | Groups of clinicians who interact professionally to share information, support, consult, refer and jointly manage patients |
| Natural hubs and scale-free behaviour | Opinion leaders in networks who disproportionately influence policies, events or practices |
| Natural pathways, connectivity and small worlds | Communication channels facilitating the rapid dissemination of information via “grapevines” and communities of practice |
| Natural appeal and stickiness | Messages and communications that are convincing and are absorbed among clinical cohorts |
| Natural propagation and tipping points | The point at which a message, idea or practice whose time has come is readily adopted by a critical mass of clinicians |
| Natural categories and natural mapping | The identification of clinically relevant problems grouped as accessible data, to facilitate decision-making and solutions to healthcare problems |
| Natural interest and self-selection | Clinicians with common concerns and complementary expertise voluntarily grouped together to collectively resolve coal-face clinical problems |
