Judgment and Decision-Making in a Medical Specialty

Abstract

Sociologists who have attempted to compile lists of the attributes of professions commonly include the possession of a systematic or abstract body of knowledge as one fundamental characteristic of this type of occupation. The application of this specialized knowledge to concrete situations or cases, then, comprises the work of the professional. As Carr-Saunders and Wilson (1933: 479) put it; &dquo;It is this characteristic, the possession of an intellectual technique, acquired by special training, which can be applied to some sphere of everyday life, that forms the distinguishing mark of the profession.&dquo;In the terms of this model of the profession, the professional can be seen as a mediator between an abstract corpus of accumulated knowledge and the concrete and Authors' Note: The research upon which this paper is based was partially supported by PHS NIMH Grant 10931 and PHS GRSG 560. We are particularly indebted to Rue Bucher for her guidance and support during all phases of this project.

Discourse, organisation and the surgical ward round

“…Discourse, organisation and the surgical ward round 17 1981; Bloor 1976;Bosk 1979;Burkett and Knafl 1974;Hood and Scott 1978;Goffinan 1974;Katz 1984;Knafl and Burkett 1975;MUhnan 1977;Silverman 1981;Travis 1985). The material in this paper is drawn from a project which set out to document the sodal processes involved in surgery, by means of ethnographic fieldwork in a number of NHS hospitals during the late 1980s (Fox 1992).…”

Institutional and Operational Knowledge in Work

“…In addition, the relative contributions of socialization programs, workplace characteristics, and the like to this practical adoption of ideologies could be assessed. The issue of how much specific training in socialization carries over into the later work activities and orientations of practitioners could also be addressed systematically (Burkett and Knafl, 1974: 106), as could the role of socialization in promoting colleague control (see Bucher and Stelling, 1977: 282). In short, while no perspective can be devoid of some bias, the framework suggested is not limited to a single topic or school of thought any more than it is limited to a specific methodology.…”

Paragons, Mavericks and Innovators—A typology of orthopaedic surgeons' professional identities. A comparative case study of evidence‐based practice

“…Twenty years ago, Pope ( 2002 ) demonstrated how contingency could be used to explain surgical variation, and elsewhere studies of surgical practice showed how health‐care professionals legitimized resistance to EBP (Fox, 1992 , 1993 ; McDonald et al, 2006 ; Tanner & Timmons, 2000 ; Timmons & Tanner, 2004 ). The practice of surgery is an enduring topic for medical sociology (Atkinson, 1981 ; Bosk, 1979 ; Burkett & Knafl, 1974 ; Knafl & Burkett, 1975 ; Swazey & Fox, 1970 ). Bosk ( 1979 ), for example, in his classic ethnography of surgical error, revealed how local standards of surgical performance constitute powerful norms governing surgical communities.…”