Advancing nursing knowledge through complex holism.

This article presents how nursing worldviews, relationship, and holism have evolved differently according to the predominant mode of perception used to create them. Intensive and extensive modes of perception are both primarily and fundamentally different; neither mode of perception can be subsumed by the other. Nurses are susceptible to limiting their perception by practicing simple holism. An evolution to complex holism in both intensive and extensive modes of perception is advocated for effective leadership in shaping the future of health care and nursing practice.