TY - JOUR
T1 - Technological affordances of risk and blame
T2 - the case of the electronic prescription service in England
AU - Petrakaki, D.
AU - Waring, J.
AU - Barber, N.
PY - 2014/3/19
Y1 - 2014/3/19
N2 - Information and communication technology (ICT) is often presented by healthpolicymakers and software designers as a means for reducing clinical risk, leadingto safer clinical practice. Studies have challenged this view, showing howtechnology can produce new or unanticipated risks. Although research seeks toobjectively identify these risks, we recognise that technological risks are sociallyconstructed through the interaction of technology and practice. The aim of thisarticle is to explore how technology affords opportunities for the socialconstruction and control of risk in health care settings. Drawing upon a study ofthe electronic prescription service introduced in the National Health Service inEngland, we make three arguments. Firstly, as technology interacts with socialpractice (for example, through policy and the design and use of ICT) it affordsopportunities for the construction of risk through its interpretiveflexibility,transformative capacity and materiality. Secondly, social actors interpret these riskswithin and across professional boundaries and cultures. Thirdly, the socialconstruction of risk affords certain implications to policymakers, designers andusers of health ICT, specifically a reordering of power and responsibility and arecasting of questions of blame. These, in turn, raise questions concerning theboundaries and bearers of responsibility.
AB - Information and communication technology (ICT) is often presented by healthpolicymakers and software designers as a means for reducing clinical risk, leadingto safer clinical practice. Studies have challenged this view, showing howtechnology can produce new or unanticipated risks. Although research seeks toobjectively identify these risks, we recognise that technological risks are sociallyconstructed through the interaction of technology and practice. The aim of thisarticle is to explore how technology affords opportunities for the socialconstruction and control of risk in health care settings. Drawing upon a study ofthe electronic prescription service introduced in the National Health Service inEngland, we make three arguments. Firstly, as technology interacts with socialpractice (for example, through policy and the design and use of ICT) it affordsopportunities for the construction of risk through its interpretiveflexibility,transformative capacity and materiality. Secondly, social actors interpret these riskswithin and across professional boundaries and cultures. Thirdly, the socialconstruction of risk affords certain implications to policymakers, designers andusers of health ICT, specifically a reordering of power and responsibility and arecasting of questions of blame. These, in turn, raise questions concerning theboundaries and bearers of responsibility.
KW - risk
KW - technological affordances
KW - responsibility
KW - blame
KW - power
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84903526762&partnerID=MN8TOARS
U2 - 10.1111/1467-9566.12098
DO - 10.1111/1467-9566.12098
M3 - Article
SN - 0141-9889
VL - 36
SP - 703
EP - 718
JO - Sociology of Health and Illness
JF - Sociology of Health and Illness
IS - 5
ER -