Getting the Whole Picture? New information and communication technologies in healthcare work and organization

Considerable effort has been invested in telemedicine and e-health, but relatively few applications have endured beyond the research and development phase. Research within different academic disciplines points to the significance of established working and organizational relations within healthcare in shaping the outcome of particular projects, whether successful or otherwise. Even so, the findings appear as disparate and discrete observations which make it difficult for those involved in the field to get an overview of ICT in healthcare work and organization or to interpret the implication of the studies. The aim of our article is to demonstrate the importance/value of situating ICT initiatives within a sociological framework of heath care work and organisation and to show how this enables us to carry-out systematic analysis across a range of ICT initiatives in different clinical settings.