The Rise and Fall of a Boundary Object: How Medical Prescriptions Became a Boundary Object and Why They May Lose this Role through Digitalization

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2025-01-07

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3519

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Abstract

We extend and evaluate a model of the life cycle of boundary objects proposed by Susan Star (2010) by applying it to the evolution of medical prescriptions as boundary objects between pharmacists and physi-cians during the 19th and 20th century. We find that interpretative flexibility, an essential characteristic of boundary objects, is not a property of an object, but results from a certain constellation of practices con-nected by it. This resonates with Star’s claims that ‘boundary object’ and ‘work arrangement’ are equiv-alent terms. Based on our findings, we speculate that digitalization of medical prescriptions may signifi-cantly reduce their character as boundary objects and turn them into a fully specified interface of an inter-organizational information system. We also briefly discuss the conditions under which medication plans may become new boundary objects in the relationship between physicians and pharmacists.

Description

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IT Adoption, Diffusion, and Evaluation in Healthcare, boundary object, evolution, historical analysis, interpretative flexibility, medical prescriptions

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10

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Proceedings of the 58th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

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