Medical hegemony in decision-making--a barrier to interdisciplinary working in intensive care?

Health care policy in the United Kingdom identifies the need for health professionals to find new ways of working to deliver patient-focussed and economic care. Much debate has followed on the nature of working relationships within the health care team.

This paper reports on an ethnographic study that examined the nursing role in clinical decision-making in intensive care units. This was chosen as a case for analysis due to the close doctor-nurse relationships that are essential in this acute and complex care setting.

Data were collected during two-stages of fieldwork using participant observation, in-depth ethnographic interviews and documentation across three clinical sites.

The findings revealed the different types of knowledge used for, divergence of roles involved in and degree of authority in clinical decision-making. Furthermore, conflict arose between doctors and nurses due to these differences and in particular because medicine dominated the decision-making process.

The nursing role, whilst pivotal to implementing clinical decisions, remained unacknowledged and devalued. Medical hegemony continues to render nurses unable to influence substantially the decision-making process. This has fundamental ramifications for the quality of team decision-making and the effectiveness of new ways of inter-professional working in intensive care.