Interprofessional working: an ethnographic case study of emergency health care

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.

Key Words:

• Emergency health care
• work patterns
• doctors
• nurses
• qualitative research