Forming routines across epistemic communities — A study of interdisciplinary routine creation in breast cancer care

Abstract

As knowledge specialization increases, organizations need to find ways to integrate knowledge from different domains. Modern healthcare is a case in point. With increasingly complex patient conditions, hospitals need to create treatment routines which integrate knowledge from several different medical domains. However, such integration is inhibited by the boundaries resulting from disciplinary knowledge specialization, an aspect largely unexplored in theory on routine formation. Drawing on theory on routines and epistemic communities, this study investigates the dynamics involved in forming routines across disciplinary boundaries. An exploratory case study of the creation of new routines spanning different medical disciplines in breast cancer care is performed. The results indicate an iterative process of boundary spanning, internal analysis, and subsequent synthesis to form routines consistent with the practices of different disciplines.