Trusting the record.
OBJECTIVE
This paper aims to contribute to a longstanding interest in documents and paperwork in healthcare work through an examination of everyday work with patient records in a clinic.


METHODS
An ethnographic study of record keeping practices in a deliberate self harm clinic was conducted to consider the role that document work plays in the development of trust in the routine social interactions of a working division of labor.


CONCLUSIONS
Issues of trust are seen to play central roles within the complexities of organizational working and some consequent implications for the deployment and use of electronic medical record systems are considered.
Clarke
K
K
Department of Computing, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YR, United Kingdom. m.rouncefield@lancaster.ac.uk
Hartswood
M
M
Procter
R
R
Rouncefield
M
M
Slack
R
R
D006757:Hospital Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008498:Medical Record Linkage; D016347:Medical Records Systems, Computerized / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012606:Scotland; D016728:Self-Injurious Behavior / Q000175:diagnosis; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D014116:Toxicology; D035502:Trust