Abstract
Web-based instructional software offers new opportunities for collaborative, task-oriented in-service training. Planning and negotiation of content to adapt a web-based learning resource for nursing is the topic of this paper. We draw from Cultural Historical Activity Theory to elaborate the dialectical relationship of changing and stabilizing organizational practice. Local adaptation to create a domain-specific resource plays out as interactions of orientations and instrumentalities. Our analysis traces how orientations, i.e., in situ selection of knowledge and mobilization of experiences, and instrumentality, i.e., interpreted affordances of available cultural tools, interact. The adaptation processes are mediated by a set of new and current tools that interact with multiple orientations to ensure stability and promote change. Practice and project are introduced as intermediate, analytic concepts to assess tensions in the observed activity. Our analysis shows three central tensions, how they are introduced, addressed and subsequently resolved. Considering the opportunities help understand how engagement with technology can lead to new representations for introduction to a local knowledge domain.
Highlights
The inherent complexity of healthcare and increasing use of advanced medical technology has expanded and specialized the roles of all health professionals, including nurses (Sandelowski, 1999)
We selected video extracts showing critical episodes from three planning meetings. These extracts were selected for two reasons: 1) during initial review of the data we found that interactions in the planning meetings revealed tensions that influenced the adaptation of the learning resource, and observations of follow-up and production of the documented plans, and 2) these episodes allowed us to trace different orientations and instrumentalities, how they interacted and the way in which tensions were either resolved or left unresolved
The findings empirically show how object co-construction is mediated by written work descriptions and everyday work in a specialized knowledge domain
Summary
The inherent complexity of healthcare and increasing use of advanced medical technology has expanded and specialized the roles of all health professionals, including nurses (Sandelowski, 1999). Advances in medical technology to aid in diagnosis and treatment are important drivers for this specialization. Such technologies contribute to blur the professional boundaries and change the division of labour in, and between, nursing and medicine (Snyder, Keeling, & Razionale, 2006). Specialization in nurses’ professional practice calls for new competencies, and development of expertise to utilize new tools. Changes in practice often relate to use of these tools in everyday work
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: Knowledge Management & E-Learning: An International Journal
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
