Invisible Work Meets Visible Work: Infrastructuring from the Perspective of Patients and Healthcare Professionals

Abstract

Increased patient engagement and the use of new types of data, such as patient-generated health data (PGHD) is shifting how work is performed in relation to healthcare. This change enables healthcare professionals to delegate parts of work previously conducted by them to patients. There is a consensus regarding the need for nurses and physicians to work seamlessly together to make healthcare flow, but the role and responsibility of patients are less researched. In this paper, we aim to fill that gap by focusing on the shift of work from healthcare professionals to patients from the perspective of i) patients and ii) healthcare professionals. We use infrastructuring as a lens to understand the design of everyday work and actions from both perspectives. The main contribution is an analysis of, and insights into, how the work of patients can support healthcare professionals along with a conceptualization of how infrastructuring processes within and outside of healthcare are interconnected.