From plans to planning: the case of nursing plans

Abstract

Drawing on a critical perspective stemming from socially informed studies of medicine, we analyze an ongoing effort to establish electronic nursing plans at the university hospital of central Norway (St. Olav's hospital). We argue for an alternative interpretation of the relative lack of success to date of making the nurses use the nursing plans. Rather than a preoccupation with the singular artifact the - plan - we emphasize the process of planning as a collective, ongoing and heterogeneous achievement. Our perspective on plans implies that they should be recognized as more of a network and less a singular artifact.