Distributed Cognition and Mobile Healthcare Work

In this paper, we look at the application of the DiCoT methodology [4] to the analysis of a mobile healthcare setting. While the methodology includes a set of principles and themes, and provides significant leverage in the analysis of control room settings, the highly mobile nature of healthcare work throws up some unique challenges. We present an analysis of patient process management within a hospital using DiCoT. While the information flow and artefact analysis themes of the methodology were found to be useful in the analysis, the mobile nature of the work meant that the principles outlined for the physical theme only partially cover the issues of interest.