Multiple Representations of Information

Vignette 3: Hospital (Clarke et al., 2003)

ReferencesPage

Cooperative Arrangement

Group of workers on a hospital ward – nursing staff. Also other workers based elsewhere within the hospital, but with work responsibilities on the ward – directorate manager, physiotherapists, occupational therapists. Focus on (i) the public display located in a staff area away from the fully open and public ward areas, and (ii) computer-generated reports from the Management Information System (MIS): * The Beds Board * The End of Day Report produced by the MIS

Representation of Activity

The beds board represents the beds availability status on the ward at any given time.The beds board represents the total ward area, with each ward ‘bay’ (usually comprising six beds) marked separately. Each bed is indicated by a metal slot where a card, with the patient’s details, can be placed. Cards that have been placed straight into the slots represent existing in-patients. Cards placed diagonally in the slots represent patients due to be discharged, pending a visit by social services, a consultant, the physiotherapist etc. The presence of diagonally placed cards gives a more precise representation of availability than a simple ‘head count’. The directorate manager can discuss available beds with the ward sister, who explains the expected time/date of discharge for the ‘diagonals’. See Fig.1.

The End of Day Report produced by the MIS gives a list of departments across the hospital site and shows bed avilability ion each of these and also gives an overall summary number of beds available. See Fig.2.

Ecological Arrangement

http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/research/cseg/projects/pointer/patterns/images/

Configuration and affordances of setting and artefacts

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Coordination Techniques

Coordination work relevant to the ‘activity’ of the hospital is achieved through the use of artefacts such as the beds-board and through information available via the Management Information System and through the interaction of staff with these representations. In potential 'crisis' situations e.g. if the MIS report shows a minus figure for the availability of beds, the directorate manager will check the situation via interaction with other staff and the beds board on the local wards which may give a different account.

Community of Use

Inter-organisational group of workers in a hospital directorate.

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