Interprofessional working: an ethnographic case study of emergency health care
- 1 January 1999
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Interprofessional Care
- Vol. 13 (2) , 139-150
- https://doi.org/10.3109/13561829909025546
Abstract
The unpredictability that is characteristic of emergency hospital care poses particular challenges for interprofessional working. In this paper we explore the tension between unpredictability and control that arises in this context and the strategies that are developed to deal with it. In particular, nurses' work gives them a guardianship role in attending to patient throughput, which fosters an approach to patients as a collective. Junior doctors' work, in contrast, orients them to patients as individuals. We consider a number of rather ironic contrasts which flow from this, notably the construction of many nurses' work as task-based and fragmented, and many junior doctors' work as having greater potential for continuity of care.Keywords
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