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ABSTRACT
This article examines prescription drug labels (PDLs) via an actor-network theory analysis to demonstrate current challenges with technical communication (TC) scholars’ appropriation of actor-network theory. The authors demonstrate that the complexity of the PDL network requires a more nuanced deployment of actor-network theory notions of durability and synchronicity. Specifically, the authors suggest that diachronic approaches to networks enable a more comprehensive understanding in ways that synchronic approaches cannot.
Notes
1. Although some studies have shown that patient-centered labels can provide an alternative to standard PDLs that are more widely accessible, these PDLs fail to adequately emphasize side effects, warnings, and other relevant information beyond dosing information (Wolf et al., Citation2011).
2. A quasi-exception comes from Graham and Herndl (Citation2011) who address the impact of labeling guidelines on interdisciplinary provider communication. However, this work does not meaningfully address the PDL as a mode of communication with patients.
3. For more work on the rhetorical work of PET scans, see Dumit (Citation2004).
4. We recognize the complexity of the network of PDLs and that accounting for every potential actant in the network is not within the scope of an article. However, we identified and analyzed the primary articulations of the network as identified through a thorough literature review regarding the development and circulation of PDLs (see Davis et al., Citation2006; Lipsky & Sharp, Citation2001; Tarn et al., Citation2006; Wolf et al., Citation2007).
5. Currently, 17 Drug Advisory Committees (DACs), in specialties ranging from oncology to reproductive health, exist to approve new drugs and biologics for market.
6. DACs—similar to a court hearing—consist of a presentation by the drug sponsor in which clinical trial data is presented, a cross-examination in which the DAC members (medical experts in a related variety of specialties) and the sponsors debate, a public comment period, and finally a vote.
7. It is important to note that physicians are not the only healthcare provider with prescribing privileges. For the sake of clarity though, we will use physicians as they most commonly prescribe these drugs.
8. It is important to note that in his later work, Latour (Citation1996, Citation2011) does challenge some of his earlier notions of ANT. The hotel manager and key example may have once worked as a provisional concept within ANT, but in reviewing the PDL network, we have worked to make clear that, as Latour describes, networks are a web of intertwined actants that do not always enroll to successfully execute goals. As demonstrated throughout this essay, the “elements” of the PDL network “circulate” in competing and even counter-productive ways (Latour, Citation1996).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Molly M. Kessler
Molly M. Kessler is an assistant professor at the University of Memphis. Her research focuses on patient experience, medical technologies, and chronic illness.
S. Scott Graham
S. Scott Graham is the director of the Public Engagement and Science Communication Laboratory and an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He researches how experts and public stakeholders communicate about risk and uncertainty as part of science-policy decision making.