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Temporality in Medical Work: Time also Matters

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Abstract

CSCW has long been concerned with the distribution of activities in time and in space, but the problems of distributed work have often taken analytic and technical precedence. In this paper, we are interested in the issue of temporality in collaborative work. In particular, we want to examine how the temporal organization of action is experienced by those who are involved in it. To investigate this phenomenon, we conducted a field study of medical workers in a surgical intensive care unit. Through this study, we highlight the temporal organization of the work. In particular, we introduce and describe three temporal features – temporal trajectories, temporal rhythms, and temporal horizons – that emerge from and influence the work of healthcare providers as they attempt to seek, provide, and manage information during the course of their daily work.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other staff members in the SICU. We would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments. This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under awards 0133749, 0205724 and 0326105, and by the Center for Research on Information Technology and Organizations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information Sciences and Technology, The Pennsylvania State University, 321J IST Building, University Park, PA, 16802-6823, USA

    Madhu C. Reddy

  2. Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, University of California, Irvine, USA

    Paul Dourish

  3. The Info-rmation School and Biomedical and Health Informatics, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

    Wanda Pratt

Authors
  1. Madhu C. Reddy
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  2. Paul Dourish
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  3. Wanda Pratt
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Correspondence to Madhu C. Reddy.

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Reddy, M.C., Dourish, P. & Pratt, W. Temporality in Medical Work: Time also Matters. Comput Supported Coop Work 15, 29–53 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10606-005-9010-z

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