Research for Action

Imagine that you work as a nurse or a doctor at a hospital. Imagine that you have done a very successful AI workshop involving personnel, management, patients, family, suppliers, researchers and others. Imagine that you developed the following provocative statements and took departure in that when developing the organisation even further but also when going to work everyday:

• “Nursing care is an art at its very best. What we do with our minds, hearts and hands is truly beautiful. We paint with brush strokes of compassion, weave tapestries of comfort and sculpt an environment of caring beyond technology for our patients, their families and often for one another. At UK – this is the art of nursing.”


• “Nursing, the common thread that unites a patchwork of disciplines into a quilt of teamwork.”

The provocative statements quoted above is from a presentation describing the AI work done at the University of Kentucky Hospital in the US. They are my favourite examples of provocative statements because they are so poetic and yet they are very concrete.

I used these statements as inspiration when writing a text on how to use Appreciative Inquiry in research on IT in healthcare. Professor Jan Read, Dr Agneta Nilsson and I have put together a chapter intended for a book called “Handbook of Research on Information Technology Management and Clinical Data Administration in Healthcare”. Since we wanted to emphasise how AI can lead to change in many ways, we called the chapter “Appreciative Inquiry: Research for Action”. It will be very interesting to see how many will heed the call!

Do you know of any research related to Appreciative Inquiry and IT or healthcare? Please write a comment and let us know!

The photo was taken in Sälen in February 2008.