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Technological affordances of risk and blame: the case of the electronic prescription service in England
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-08, 16:37 authored by Dimitra PetrakakiDimitra Petrakaki, Justin Waring, Nick BarberInformation and communication technology (ICT) is often presented by health policymakers and software designers as a means for reducing clinical risk, leading to safer clinical practice. Studies have challenged this view, showing how technology can produce new or unanticipated risks. Although research seeks to objectively identify these risks, we recognise that technological risks are socially constructed through the interaction of technology and practice. The aim of this article is to explore how technology affords opportunities for the social construction and control of risk in health care settings. Drawing upon a study of the electronic prescription service introduced in the National Health Service in England, we make three arguments. Firstly, as technology interacts with social practice (for example, through policy and the design and use of ICT) it affords opportunities for the construction of risk through its interpretive flexibility, transformative capacity and materiality. Secondly, social actors interpret these risks within and across professional boundaries and cultures. Thirdly, the social construction of risk affords certain implications to policymakers, designers and users of health ICT, specifically a reordering of power and responsibility and a recasting of questions of blame. These, in turn, raise questions concerning the boundaries and bearers of responsibility.
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Publication status
- Published
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- Published version
Journal
Sociology of Health and IllnessISSN
0141-9889Publisher
Wiley-BlackwellExternal DOI
Issue
5Volume
36Page range
703-718Department affiliated with
- Business and Management Publications
Full text available
- No
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2014-08-20First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2021-03-04Usage metrics
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