The work of hospitalized patients

Patient's participation in their own care, conceived as work, is the central theme of this paper. A second theme is the patients' work in relation to technology. A third is: the prevalence of chronic illness and how this relates to patients' work in the service of their own care. Data are from a multi-hospital field-research and interviewing study of technology and patient care, carried out in San Francisco and the Bay Area, California. Questions addressed in this paper include the following: What are the sources of patients' work? What types of work do patients do? How does that work relate to courses of illness and the phases? What is the relation of that work to staff work? Under what conditions is the work visible or invisible to staff? Under what conditions is the work appreciated or not by staff? What are some consequences of patient work for staff work, for the management of the courses of illness, and for the patients' own medical and biographical fates? How does patient work at the hospital relate to patient work done at home?