Acting in Anaesthesia

Dawn Goodwin is a social science lecturer in medical education and director of problem-based learning and teaches courses on various aspects of science, technology and medicine to both medical and social science students. Her current research interests focus on the development of embodied knowledge, its place in clinical practice and the processes of learning involved. Her doctoral and postdoctoral research centred on the notions of participation and accountability in healthcare practice. Along with colleagues Dr Buscher and Dr Mesman, Dawn Goodwin is currently editing a book of ethnographic studies of diagnostic work drawn from a range of disciplines.

• 1. Understanding anaesthesia: theory and practice; 2. Refashioning bodies, reshaping agency; 3. Accounting for incoherent bodies; 4. Teamwork, participation, and boundaries; 5. Embodied knowledge: coordinating spaces, bodies, and tools; 6. Recognising agency, legitimating participation, and acting accountably in anaesthesia.

'[This book] is based on ethnographic research, both detailed, real-time observations and in-depth interviews, but it also benefits from Goodwin's past experiences as an anaesthetic and recovery nurse. It is obvious that she knows her ethnographic field very well, a knowledge which allows her to provide the reader with very detailed and helpful descriptions of otherwise confusing medical procedures.' Ericka Johnson, Technoscienza