Here is an exercise in mapping a system using a causal loop diagram. See [[Power of Exponential]]

Read the following paragraph and identify the variables and relationships:

The narrative being sold is that the aging population is pushing hospitals to a breaking point. A study shows that pressure for beds leads patients to be discharged before they are well enough to go home. This simply leads to those patients returning to hospital and recorded as a new episode. The hospitals achieve their targets on throughput but fail to solve patient’s problems.

The paragraph is describing a vicious cycle. This means we have a reinforcing loop. Here is one way we could capture this:

See also [[Great Leap Backwards]]

We can also explore a system using a stock flow diagram (SFD). Some of the variables in our CLD are stocks (accumulations) and we change stock levels via flows. Here I have created an SFD for the hospital beds example: