Release Date
Geography
Language of Resource
Full Text Available
Open Access / OK to Reproduce
Peer Reviewed
Objective
The purpose of this study was to explore relations between social and material elements within the acute care environment, to better understand how care is enacted and to identify novel approaches for improvement.
Findings/Key points
Findings revealed that differing expectations, strained conversations, and various policies assembled to produce misalignments in care. Such misalignments included mistrust, suboptimal pain and withdrawal management, and frequent patient absences and/or discharge against medical advice. Care misaligned in ways that reflected both social and material elements, demonstrating a need for hospital staff and systems to challenge existing care models built around individual control and abstinence-informed practices.
Design/methods
Data included observational field notes, interviews, and artifacts from 154 hours spent on acute medicine units of two hospitals in an urban setting in Ontario, Canada.
