A collective ethnographer: fieldwork experience in the Brazilian Northeast

Journal of Education and Work

Mecklin

2010

Hospitals, and surgical operating theatres (OTs) in particular, are environments in which inter-professional teamwork and learning are essential to secure patient safety and effective practice. However, it has been revealed in many studies that inter-professional collaborative work in hospital organisations faces many challenges and constraints. In this study we examine surgical operations as participatory practices from the perspective of inter-professional learning and cooperation. We ask what kinds of shared practices enable learning and collaboration within the surgical operating team. We used an ethnographic approach to data collection including observations and interviews of surgical residents and nursing staff. Observations were conducted in the OTs of one nonacademic hospital in Finland in 2007. The transcripts and episodes were analysed qualitatively. We suggest that inter-professional teamwork can be implemented by collegial support, transgressing professional roles and sustaining an inclusive atmosphere. There is a need to strengthen and develop the practices of interprofessional education, not only in formal educational but, especially, in practical clinical settings.

Section: The Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Promoting inter‐professional teamwork and learning – the case of a surgical operating theatre

Journal of Education and Work

Mecklin

2010

“…The findings presented in this article are part of a larger research project conducted in a surgical clinic within a moderately large Finnish hospital. A qualitative ethnographic case study (see Atkinson, 1995;Gordon et al, 2006;Hammersley and Atkinson, 2007;Jacobson, 1991;Sigaud, 2008;Woods et al, 2000) was adopted in conducting the research. The study presented in this article derives from a larger research project (SURGSKILLS) focusing on surgical workplace learning, the construction of surgical identity and workplace guidance.…”

Section: Study Design and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work, power and learning in a risk filled occupation

Sintonen

et al. 2011

Management Learning

In this article we describe various ways in which power is exercised between personnel in a hospital operating theatre. We aim to investigate how the forms of discursive power and workplace learning are intertwined with each other by utilizing an ethnographic approach in the fieldwork. Our data were collected mainly through observations and interviews with surgical residents, physicians and nurses. In the article we describe the delicate ways in which power is exercised and resisted in everyday practices. We argue that there is a close relationship between learning and manifestations of power, together with the various forms of these manifestations and the restrictions that may be placed on them. Additionally, we show how learning takes place in terms of finding, experimenting with and transgressing participatory agency among nurses and residents in the work community.

“…Responsibility for communicating the findings was placed on both the researchers and the staff. Ethnography and collective ethnography (Paloniemi and Collin 2010a;Gordon et al 2006;Sigaud 2008;Woods et al 2000) not only enable a better understanding of the research context but also facilitate the close investigation of interactions among staff at grass-roots level. Ethnography can also be applied effectively to the hectic work in the emergency unit as it enables quick reactions to changes in the unit when necessary.…”

Section: Emergency Work At Central Finland Central Hospitalmentioning

confidence: 99%

INPROF – promoting teamwork processes and interprofessional collaboration in emergency work (2010–2012)

Studies in Continuing Education

Herranen

2015

This paper summarises the findings of a research project on interprofessional collaboration in the emergency unit of a major Finnish hospital. The findings are discussed through a broad conceptual framework which involves work process knowledge and interprofessional collaboration. The project, carried out from 2010-2012, investigated different forms of, prerequisites for, and barriers to, collaboration, and the aim was to develop the work together with staff at the unit. An ethnographically informed research strategy was utilised, with observations and interviews as the main data collection methods. On the whole, collaboration in the emergency unit was found to function rather well; i.e. patients receive good-quality treatment within the ideal time frame. We found that in the unit, the most suitable form for the majority of collaborations is multi-professional collaboration, in which professionals exchange information but still adhere strongly to their own professional groups. More interprofessional collaboration is required particularly in leadership and management, to create further improvements in i) the coordination of work as a whole, and ii) the implementation of organisational changes and new professional roles. Obstacles to interprofessional collaboration in particular appear to be: i) diverging professional values and core professional identities, and ii) power relations that create inequality.