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Emergent structures in drug dispensing to inpatients: implications for patient safety

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Abstract

The present article recounts a study on the implications of a new technology on work practices related to dispensing drugs to inpatients. Safety has previously been strongly linked to local adaptations of work practice, and consequently the implementation of a technology that may deeply influence work practice might as a result influence safety, hopefully for the better, but possibly for the worse. The study took place three years after the introduction of the new technology and focuses on how technology came to be used in a practice. It is shown how the new technology leads to a partial redefinition of the nurses’ activity. On the one hand, the computer system enables the nurses to have a higher degree of participation in the practice of caretaking, while on the other hand the system may lead to a further division between the two communities of practice present in the ward. And, while this redefinition seems to supports the resilience of the practice, the study points out the need to understand this redefinition, in order to prevent negative consequences over the long term.

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Acknowledgements

This project was realized while I was working for the division of Quality and Human-Systems Engineering at the University of Linköping, Sweden. It was partially founded by the Drug and Therapeutics Committee of the County of Östergötland (Sweden). I would also like to thank the nurses and doctors who welcomed me in their wards, as well as Erik Hollnagel and Martijn Mooij for discussing and reviewing the present paper.

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  1. Work Psychology Department, Université de Liège, Bd du Rectorat 5 (B32), B-4000, LIEGE 1, Belgium

    Vincent Gauthereau

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  1. Vincent Gauthereau
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Correspondence to Vincent Gauthereau.

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Gauthereau, V. Emergent structures in drug dispensing to inpatients: implications for patient safety. Cogn Tech Work 6, 223–238 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10111-004-0152-4

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