title: Towards a sociology of healthcare safety and quality.
abstract: The contributions to this collection address technologies, practices, experiences and the organisation of quality and safety across a wide range of healthcare contexts. Spanning three continents, from hospital to community, maternity to mental health, they shine a light into the boardrooms, back offices and front-lines of healthcare, offering sociological insights from the perspectives of managers, clinicians and patients. We review these articles and consider how they contribute to some of the dilemmas that confront mainstream approaches to quality and safety and then look ahead to outline future lines of sociological inquiry to progress the theory and practice of quality and safety.
authors.affiliation: School of Healthcare Sciences, Cardiff University, UK.
authors.forename: Davina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.affiliation: Australian Institute for Healthcare Innovation, Macquarie University, Australia.
authors.forename: Jeffrey
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Braithwaite
authors.affiliation: Women's Health Academic Centre, King's College London, UK.
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sandall
authors.affiliation: Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham, UK.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Waring
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000458:organization & administration; D006739:Hospital Administration; D006801:Humans; D061214:Patient Safety; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D012449:Safety; D017751:Safety Management / Q000458:organization & administration; D012962:Sociology, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration*
keywords: healthcare; quality and safety; sociology; theory