Preserving the consultation: medical record cards and professional conduct.

Professional medical practice in public institutions involves the systematic documentation of information concerning the transactions of organizational members and their clientele. In general practice (primary health care) as in other forms of medical work, record cards are maintained in which the details of patients’illness and its management are documented. These medical biographies provide the profession with a significant resource in their day-to-day dealings with their clients; the records inform decisions and generally play a crucial role in the organization of the consultations. To enable professional conduct to rely upon the records, a community of practices provides for the systematic documentation and comprehension of information. It is these practices which form the concern of the following brief essay.