Blaming Others for Lack of Updated Digital Information

Digitalisation and electronic medicines management systems have high priority in Norwegian healthcare strategies. Lack of updated information and poor communication about the patient’s medication is seen as a societal challenge. e-health can facilitate better communication and information flow within and between institutions and thereby ensure that patients' medication lists are accurate, up to date and available for all professionals involved. Correct and updated medicine lists is particularly important during transitions of care.

We lean on ethnographic Science, technology and society inspired fieldwork and includes observations and individual and focus-group interviews with doctors and nurses from primary and specialist care, healthcare workers, pharmacists and information and communication technology representatives. We demonstrate how health professionals often blame each other for lack of updated information and discuss how e-health simultaneously promote and disrupt interprofessional work.

Nurses in hospitals blame doctors for not providing accurate information on the practicalities on how medicine should be delivered into the electronic medicine list. Lack of information is adding work to their busy schedule by calling the doctors for accurate information. Nurses and healthcare workers in primary care blame hospital doctors for not using the medicines list from home-care services when patients are hospitalised. Pharmacists believe that doctors who initiate changes to treatment plans also should update the electronic medication list as soon as possible. According to the pharmacists, up-dating is a messy process, and they often need to call the doctors to clarify discrepancies. Doctors argue that pharmacists lack clinical knowledge, and sometimes are too detailed.

We discuss the relationship between digitalisation and interprofessional work practices and argue that blaming each other illustrate lack of knowledge for different professional tasks and responsibilities in relation to medicines management.