STEP - Science and Technology in the European Periphery

cfp:

The view from below: On standards in clinical practice and clinical research

An international conference of the European Science Foundation Program DRUGS in cooperation with the DFG research project "Psychotropic drugs in the GDR"

organized by the Institute for the History of Medicine, Charité -
Universitaetsmedizin Berlin (Germany)

14/09/2011-16/09/2011, Berlin

Deadline for proposals: 28/02/2011

The Institute for the History of Medicine, Charité, will organize a
workshop in Berlin on 'The view from below: On standards in clinical
practice and clinical research'.
The workshop focuses on the ways of how standards in drug therapy and clinical drug research emerged since the mid of 20th century. Key questions to be addressed include: Which implicit processes of standardisation can be observed during this period – processes of standardizing terminology, concepts, and classifications as well as note-taking, recording practices, and data processing? What were the conditions under which routines in diagnostics or therapeutic schemas (for instance drug cocktails) became established, or how were certain research approaches accepted by the scientific community? How were guidelines constructed for diagnostics, therapy, and research?
Recent studies in history, anthropology and sociology have often focused on the impact of constructing standards in medical practice. Mostly, they have analysed how clinical practices and the relations, perspectives and the agency of actors (for instance of patients) were transformed (Timmermans/Berg 2003). In contrast to the 'top down' perspective our workshop aims to take the analytical approach from clinical practice. Therefore the workshop will focus on the emergence and construction of – often implicit – standards. We want to address the concrete settings of bedside observation, clinical research, and patient treatment. Special emphasis will be given to recording practices based on hospital patient files, case reports, research notes, and other materials left behind in the clinical practice. This approach will also examine the different positions and scopes of influence of actors as well as the negotiation processes between them.
From this perspective, standardization prompted disciplining or
regulative action (in the form of standards or normalization). This is
the reason why we propose that there existed two different modes of how standards were generated, produced, and distributed. First, standards were created by explicitly reflecting upon the practice. Secondly, some standards were formed implicitly from routines and repetitions of practices. The second mode however is rarely noticed in sciences studies. So we would welcome particularly all contributions that focus on the second mode with historical case studies. We also embrace all
contributions that explore theoretical approaches as well as those which adopt a more empirical analysis. What are the possibilities gained from analyzing processes of standardization through the study of recording practices? Which kind of 'Aufschreibesystem' (recording practices) are most suitable? What can we learn about developing therapeutic routines, research standards, and guidelines in the medical clinic? Further topics that are welcomed for this workshop include the clinical practices of 'off-label-use', the training and education of the medical and the nurse
staff as well as of patients and relatives, the production of
compliance, the processes from bedside to evidence-based medicine (and back), and the emergence of audit cultures for quality management.

The deadline for the submission of proposals is 28 February 2011. Please submit paper proposals (1 page) with presentation title,
presenter(s) name(s) and contact information via e-mail to:
ulrike.kloeppel@charite.de

Organizing committee:

Dr Ulrike Klöppel
Dr Viola Balz

Institute for the History of Medicine
Charité - Universitaetsmedizin
Ziegelstrasse 5-9
D-10117 Berlin

fon: x49-(0)-30-450 52 9040 / 9045
fax: x49-(0)-30-450 52 9901