Autonomy and Articulation: Organizational Change and the Daily Work of Healthcare Providers

• In Event: 1184 - Section on Organizations, Occupations, and Work Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 03. Healthcare and Medicine

Abstract

The healthcare system is undergoing many important transformations. Some of these include the physical transformation of healthcare environments. The current study examines how shifts in the physical design of a healthcare setting impacts the articulation work involved in providing care. To understand this relationship, this study assesses ethnographic and interview data collected over a 13-month period at a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) as it transformed from an open-bay unit, to one with single-patient rooms. Findings suggest that when organizational changes occur, healthcare providers may be forced to readapt their practices, including the way they monitor patients and collaborate with colleagues. Furthermore, by drawing on the concept of articulation work this study suggests new ways of examining how healthcare provider autonomy may be challenged to meet the needs of contemporary healthcare organizations. 

Author

• Jane Schlapkohl VanHeuvelen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign