Mellem bureaukrati, klient og professionelle idealer: et professionsteoretisk 11 blik på jordemødres tale om brug af teknologier til at høre hjertelyd

Between Bureaucracy, Clients and Professional Ideals – a Sociological Approach to Midwifes’ Experiences Monitoring Fetal Heartbeat Using Different Technologies.
This article examines professionals’ perspectives on shifts in status of technologies. The article builds on data from focus group interviews with Danish midwives. Interviews revolve around midwives experiences using two technologies to listen to fetal heartbeat, the classical Pinard and the electronic Sonic Aid. These technologies are presently questioned by the Danish health authorities as well as obstetric research, due to their inability to produce valid
clinical data. This issue however, goes beyond the mere attrition of technologies and lack of clinical effect. Drawing on Freidson, Foucault and Bourdieu, data analysis shows that professional reasoning and legitimization related to the use of the two technologies, is enacted in a field of cross pressures from organizational efficiency demands, evidence based medicine, professional values and client interests. Furthermore, data analysis illustrates how professional
priorities and accounts refer to structural conditions and transformation processes influenced by new technologies, different forms of knowledge, institutions and their professions.