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iPads have become increasingly popular as tools for teaching in early education. With their multifaceted and interactive affordances as handheld and mobile devices, they have been ascribed great potential to change and expand on classroom practice. However, the iPad often becomes just another technology hype in education, and explanations often point to teachers' and schools' lack of technical know-how and ability to utilise the devices' affordances. In this qualitative case study, we explore how teachers organise and practise iPads in two different classrooms. Classroom observations and interviews with the teachers were conducted to enrich our knowledge about the complexities of iPad use in teaching and to strengthen the knowledge of how different settings produce different iPad practices. Using an actor-network theory approach, the study suggests that iPads are not simply put into use, but enacted through fluid, heterogeneous assemblages of human and non-human actors in the classroom. The iPad's affordances, such as mobility, are performed rather than inherent qualities of the devices themselves, and the classroom becomes a mishmash of fostering and hindering mobile practices.

Medicines are important for well-being. Thus, medication errors can have severe consequences, even death. Transfers between professionals and levels of care are a challenge in terms of medicines management. Norwegian governmental strategies encourage communication and collaboration between levels of care, and several initiatives are invested in to improve digital medicine management. In the project Electronic Medicines Management (eMM), we established an arena for inter-professional discussions about medicines management. This paper provides an example of how the eMM arena contributed to knowledge sharing and development in current medicines management practices at a nursing home. Building on communities of practice as a method we carried out the first of several sessions, with nine inter-professional participants. The results illustrate how discussion and agreement were reached on a common practice across different levels of care, and how the knowledge required bringing this knowledge back to the local practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medication errors are a significant health problem and a serious threat to patient safety. In Norway, an estimated one-third of the elderly population has been exposed to potentially inappropriate medications. The Norwegian government has assumed a pivotal role in reducing medication errors and providing safer medication management for its citizens, particularly through the national eHealth system's eprescription and Summary Care Record. In the present study, we depart from the governmental eHealth initiatives and examine why access to pharmaceutical information is not sufficient to solve the problem with medication errors. Empirical data were collected from 2015 to 2019 through the conduction of 56 qualitative interviews that were transcribed, thematically coded and analysed. The results illustrate how eHealth systems are helpful, at the same time, we emphasise changed work practices and professional knowledge-sharing as a basis for solving the issue of medication errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Telementoring is a well-known practice in surgical training, and its impact is traditionally related to individual surgeons' performance and the quality of the procedure. The objective of this study was to explore telementoring in a wider organisational context. This paper reports on an ethnographic study carried out during 2014-2016 in Norway, combining observations, interviews, focus groups and field notes. We followed the surgical training of a specialist candidate at a medium-sized surgical ward. The training successfully took place through the use of telementoring, comprising updated standards for a surgical procedure that ensured minimum invasive surgery for a vulnerable patient group. We observed that telementoring was a necessary and important element in ongoing quality improvement processes at the ward, and its impact at the organisational level was important. In fact, a series of co-existing interwoven elements was necessary to normalise the new procedure in question. We conclude that the use of telementoring linking international expertise to local contexts is one of the factors that can facilitate and speed up quality improvement processes in small- to medium-sized surgical wards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video recordings are an important resource for capturing in-dept social interaction and collaboration in workplace studies. Video-recorded observations can be used to analyse knowledge expansion in collaborative work when practitioners use videoconferences (VCs). Interaction analysis of a problem-solving activity is carried out, pointing to sequences in the work where knowledge expand, and problems are solved. Systematic observations using video recordings provide access to analysis of complex forms of interaction among professionals.

Access to mentors for education in surgical subspecialties is a challenge in many hospitals. Videoconferencing (VC) provides real-time communication between mentors and mentees despite dispersed geographical locations. In Norway, an educational pathway of a specific laparoscopic surgical procedure was carried out using VC. The surgical training lasted for three months and was video recorded. The dataset covers the educational procedure, constituting of a trajectory of eight patient cases. During a model of stepwise distancing of the physical presence of the mentor, the collaborative work using VC leads the mentee to become an expert. VC is a tool for both collaboration and representation, as the picture on the VC offers the same information to both the mentor and the mentee. The communication is characterized by guidance and explanations of why specific actions are necessary for problem-solving. The use of VC was a presumption for becoming an expert in this procedure.