Diagnostic Work in Collaborative Practices in Neonatal Care

This chapter aims to show how diagnostic work is an integral part of collaborative medical practices. The argument’s starting-point is the notion that collaborative accomplishments in health care practices are in fact extraordinary achievements and that diagnostic work plays a crucial role in this. Some chapters in this volume demonstrate how diagnostic work requires collaboration (see also O’Neill, Chapter 3; Goodwin, Chapter 5; Rouncefield et al., Chapter 13). This chapter adds another, important dimension by focussing on the role of ‘interactional’ diagnostic work in and for collaboration. Drawing on workplace studies, science and technology studies and medical sociology, I explore the dynamic web of individuals and other actors, including the devices and machines with which they interact, with the aim of gaining insight into the role of diagnostic work in the coordination of ephemeral teamwork during complex situations in health care.

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