Expert performance in a domain is often defined as maximal adaptation to stable task constraints. This definition is useful when analysing the vertical transition when novices become experts. However, many workplaces undergo considerable changes and, thus, task constraints change as well. In this paper a complementary conceptualisation of…

In this article I share student and teacher experiences of forest walks (in Finnish: Metsäkävely) as a form of outdoor education in a Finnish special education school in a hospital setting. I was the teacher of these students in the hospital school setting, and so was an insider researcher, and teacher as researcher, undertaking…

All successful public service innovations require learning and just as importantly and often more deeply, unlearning. This research investigates the unlearning of health professionals focusing on the issue of why and how unlearning happens at an individual level for health care professions in the transition from product logic to service-dominant…

Background: Medical research involving human subjects must be evaluated by a research ethics committee (REC) before a study is initiated. However, knowledge of REC decision processes, particularly in relation to evaluating the risk-benefit balance in various study types, appears scant. Methods: The study protocols and records of a Finnish…

This paper summarises the findings of a research project on interprofessional collaboration in the emergency unit of a major Finnish hospital. The findings are discussed through a broad conceptual framework which involves work process knowledge and interprofessional collaboration. The project, carried out from 2010-2012, investigated different…

Despite the increased recognition of the role that professional agency plays in work-related learning, little is known about what supports it. Based on current theoretical notions, the first purpose of this paper is to show that professional agency is closely intertwined with work-related learning. The second purpose is to introduce some main…

Health care organizations are facing rapid changes, frequently involving modification of existing procedures. The case study reported here examined change processes and learning in a health care organization. The organizational change in question occurred in the emergency clinic of a Finnish central hospital where a new action model for…

As early as 15 years ago, it was claimed that organizational intervention research lacks consensus about research methods and theory and that more systematic efforts are needed to overcome this theoretical-methodological gap in knowledge. This study aims at contributing to the development of theory and methodology in the field of organizational…

In the paper we aim to identify various ways of interprofessional collaboration and learning in an emergency unit at a hospital in Finland. According to previous studies, health care work faces various constraints which also challenge interprofessional interaction and learning. We ask what kinds of learning situations and challenges are manifested…

We hypothesize that the relationship between perceived employability (PE) and turnover intention is stronger when job resources (job control, social support from the supervisor and colleagues) are low. Results from a prospective study one year apart were similar in samples of Finnish university (N = 1314) and hospital workers (N = 308). The…

This study focuses on a large set of rehabilitation services used between 2004 and 2005 in one hospital district area in Finland. The rehabilitation system consists of several subsystems. This complex system is suggested to produce arbitrary rehabilitation services. Despite the criticisms against the system during decades, no attempts have been…

Background: During the process of implantation, parents may have rather heterogeneous expectations and concerns about their child's development and the functioning of habilitation and education services. Their views on habilitation and education are important for building family-centred practices. Aims: We explored the perceptions of parents and…

This article describes a study designed to evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention program for bereaved fathers and their experiences of it in a sample of intervention (n = 62) and control (n = 41) fathers. Data were collected by 3 scales: the Hogan Grief Reactions Checklist, a scale for measuring received social support, and a scale for…

Purpose: The aim of this article is to examine whether the boundary between the separate worlds of evaluation and frontline work in a hospital can be overcome. The study provides an example of a rare, innovative creation process of an assessment tool in which the tool users and the tool producer participated. The article aims to widen the…

Hospitals, and surgical operating theatres (OTs) in particular, are environments in which inter-professional teamwork and learning are essential to secure patient safety and effective practice. However, it has been revealed in many studies that inter-professional collaborative work in hospital organisations faces many challenges and constraints.…