Constructing standards: a study of nurses negotiating with multiple modes of knowledge

• Published in: The journal of workplace learning Vol. 22; no. 6; pp. 376 - 393
• Main Authors: Nes, Sturle, Moen, Anne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bradford Emerald Group Publishing Limited 01.01.2010; Emerald
• Subjects: Access to Information; Accountability; Best Practices; Communicable Diseases; Construction; Context Effect; Conventional Instruction; Cooperative Learning; Cultural Differences; Epistemology; Evidence Based Practice; Evidence-based nursing; Experience; Expertise; Foreign Countries; Group Membership; Guidelines; Interaction Process Analysis; Knowledge; Knowledge management; National Standards; Negotiating; Negotiations; Norway; Nurses; Nursing; Organizational Change; Professionals; Quality standards; Standardization; Studies; Norway; Knowledge management; Nursing; Negotiating; Standards
• ISSN: 1366-5626; 1758-7859
• DOI: 10.1108/13665621011063487

Purpose - The aim of the paper is to explore how multiple modes of knowledge play out in the consolidation of nursing procedures in construction of "local universality". The paper seeks to explore processes where nurses negotiate universal procedures that are to become local standards in a hospital.Design methodology approach - The paper is based on a case study design. Working group sessions, where the activity was to consolidate different versions of nursing procedures were observed and videotaped. For this paper, transcribed videotaped observations, where tension-laden situations were identified, are subject to interaction analysis.Findings - In the negotiations to construct standards, multiple modes of knowledge play out; personal experience, collective expertise and formalized knowledge. The paper demonstrates the contributions these modes of knowledge make in a process of standardization. This shows that standards, as such, do not stay universal for very long, but are constructed as "local universalities".Research limitations implications - The study elaborates on discursive negotiations of procedures to illustrate how local universality plays out in processes to constitute standards. It is a limitation because how the local universality plays out in clinical work, or make claims about practice transformation, cannot be described.Originality value - The paper shows the necessity of confronting standardized procedures through multiple modes of knowledge. The paper exemplifies productive interactions in the construction of local universality, and how professionals account for practice when facing formal and standardized procedures.