The Collaborative work of Hospital Porters: Accountability, Visibility and Configurations of Work

In this paper, we describe the collaborative work of hospital porters. The profession of hospital porters is understudied in sociology and in Computer Supported Cooperative Work, despite numerous studies of healthcare IT. We describe how a new IT system for hospital logistics provided porters with more influence on, and responsibility for their work; supported collaboration among porters, clinicians, and middle management; and effected a new ecology of visibility and accountability of porters' work. We discuss how the new system simultaneously supported collaboration and generated representations and accounts of porters' work. We compare the particular work arrangement in this study with other studies of porters' work, show the widely different configurations of how IT and work can be organized, and argue for the benefit of making comparative studies within CSCW. Finally, we argue for moving beyond dualisms of coordination and accountability for work.