Hybridity as a process of technology's ‘translation’: customizing a national Electronic Patient Record

Dimitra Petrakaki and Ela Klecun

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: This paper explores how national Electronic Patient Record (EPR) systems are customized in local settings and, in particular, how the context of their origin plays out with the context of their use. It shows how representations of healthcare organizations and of local clinical practice are built into EPR systems within a complex context whereby different stakeholder groups negotiate to produce an EPR package that aims to meet both local and generic needs. The paper draws from research into the implementation of the National Care Record Service, a part of the National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT), in the English National Health Service (NHS). The paper makes two arguments. First, customization of national EPR is a distributed process that involves cycles of ‘translation’, which span across geographical, cultural and professional boundaries. Second, ‘translation’ is an inherently political process during which hybrid technology gets consolidated. The paper concludes, that hybrid technology opens up possibilities for standardization of healthcare.

Keywords: UK; Translation; Hybridity; Customization; EPR; Technology; Healthcare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J50 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015-01
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published in Social Science & Medicine, January, 2015, 124, pp. 224-231. ISSN: 0277-9536

Downloads: (external link)
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/60437/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ehl:lserod:60437

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library LSE Library Portugal Street London, WC2A 2HD, U.K.. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by LSERO Manager ().