Electronic medication management

摘要

This paper presents a workplace study of the implementation and use of an electronic medication management system (EMMS) at a university hospital in Norway. The strategic plan at the hospital was a fully computerized medication process that included a new application in the electronic patient record (EPR), as well as a fully automated packaging, dispensing, and distributing system using robot technology. A breakdown in the initial phase of the implementation project opened "Pandora's box" and helped visualize the relationship between coordinative practices and artifacts that took place in the new medication management process. Specifically, this paper highlights the redesign of the EMMS as a consequence of the breakdown that led to the development of an electronic chart. Furthermore, the paper characterizes this change process as a transformation in a socio-technical (material) network in which adjustment and innovation are ongoing processes in daily practice.