Work, power and learning in a risk filled occupation

Abstract

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.

The effect of continuing professional education on perioperative nurses’ relationships with medical staff: findings from a qualitative study

“…The reported differences in professional hierarchies between these professions in the UK (Hamlin 2005, Coe & Gould 2008) and other countries (Gardezi et al. 2009, Collin et al. 2011, Leach et al.…”

Multiple Forms of Professional Agency for (non)crafting of Work Practices in a Hospital Organization

“…Nurses and secretaries seem to have less power to make final decisions related to cures because of their lower hospital status. Moreover, the distinct professional identities are bounded by a culture that has traditionally and persistently been hierarchical and noncollaborative in hospital settings (Collin et al, 2011;. Thus, fundamentally cooperative and more holistic managerial practice in hospitals is called for (Mintzberg, 2012).…”

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

“…For instance, if one group of professionals has more power than the other groups in the work community, it is clear that collaboration cannot materialise in an ideal and democratic way (see Collin et al 2011). Moreover, traditional power structures do not sit well with the ideas of work process knowledge and interprofessionalism that emphasise e.g.…”