Deconstructing clinical pathways: mapping the landscape of health care.
Grounded in a critical feminist methodology, this article undertakes a deconstructive discourse analysis of a newly emergent discourse within nursing care management, "clinical pathways." Using a Foucaultian approach to deconstructive discourse analysis, the power relations inherent in the "clinical pathways" discourse are identified and the underlying philosophical assumptions informing the discourse are explored. The metaphors of "map" and "landscape" are employed to examine the power relations within the discourse of "clinical pathways." Finally, an alternative, praxis-based approach to transforming the discourse of "clinical pathways" from a focus of social control to one of situated engagement and community is proposed.
Georges
Jane M
JM
Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, University of San Diego, San Diego, Calif 92110, USA. jgeorges@sandiego.edu
Sister Sharon McGuire
D019091:Critical Pathways / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008329:Managed Care Programs; D009732:Nursing Care / Q000458:organization & administration*