Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 24, 2026

Handwriting Analysis Indicates Spontaneous Dyskinesias in Neuroleptic Naïve Adolescents at High Risk for Psychosis
Published on: November 21, 2013
How writing records reduces clinical knowledge: a field study of psychiatric hospital wards
1Centre for Psychiatric Research, Aarhus University Hospital, Risskov, Denmark. nbu@psykiatri.aaa.dk
Abstract:
Through the practices of recording, psychiatric nurses produce clinical knowledge about the patients in their care. The objective of this study was to examine the conventionalized practices of recording among psychiatric nurses and the typical linguistic organization of their records. The study drew on data from an extended fieldwork on two Danish "special observation" wards. The results indicated that the nurses' recording produced "stereotyping" representations of the patients and reduced the nurses' clinical knowledge but that this particular way of recording made good sense in relation to the social organization at the wards.
Related Concept Videos
Types of Records I: Unit and Nurses Records
Unit records can be divided into two main types: administrative records and clinical records.
Administrative records in...
Purpose of Health Records I
Here's a breakdown of how health records serve these purposes:
Data Reporting and Recording
Types of Records II: Educational and Administrative Records
Purpose of Health Records II
Methods of Documentation IV: Focus Charting
It typically involves three columns for recording information:

