The Role of the Quality Coordinator: Articulation Work in Quality Development

Abstract

Quality development in healthcare has undergone a movement from processes led by the medical professions to processes increasingly regulated by nationally formulated frameworks that consist of increased systematics, transparency and data-driven quality development (Power, 1997; Wiener, 2000; Timmermans and Berg, 2003; Knudsen et al., 2008; Knudsen, 2011). As part of this change, quality development has become a consolidated and permanent part of healthcare, with its own institutions, organizations and practices. In that respect, it has become a distinct, formalized field and a part of the hospital organization in its own right, occupying a considerable space in the hospitals in terms of tasks, methods, technologies and assigned employees. As part of this development, organizational positions in the hospital are changing and new organizational positions have been introduced in order to address the increasing demands for quality development (Kirkpatrick et al., 2009, 2011).