Tracing Data in General Practice Clinics: Healthcare Governance and Algorithmic Governmentality
This study explores the epistemological intersections within general practice, with particular attention to the implications of quantification and digitisation in the management of public health. Through the analysis of one of the main digital instruments of care and governance in the contemporary h...
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| Publicado no: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/aam, |
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| Autor principal: | |
| Formato: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Idioma: | Anglais |
| Publicado em: |
Archivio antropologico mediterraneo
2026
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| Assuntos: | |
| Acesso em linha: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Resumo: | This study explores the epistemological intersections within general practice, with particular attention to the implications of quantification and digitisation in the management of public health. Through the analysis of one of the main digital instruments of care and governance in the contemporary healthcare landscape – the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) available to General Practitioners (GP) – the article investigates the epistemic implications underpinning national healthcare systems in the Global North, which, by virtue of their very structure, prevent the recognition of a pluralism of practices and forms of knowledge, while highlighting the role of the key instruments of control available to health authorities. Drawing on contributions from medical anthropology and science and technology studies, the article analyses the predominant reliance on statistical and epidemiological models which, although they prove adequate for the management of populations, fall short in their capacity to care for a plurality of individuals and everyday practices. Through an ethnographic approach, the research examines how EMR are able to exert disciplinary power not only over patients, but also over professionals. While, on the one hand, software systems promote efficiency, on the other they extend the influence of governance policies into clinical spaces. This process brings into view the epistemic singularity of the data generated in general practice, while at the same time revealing the impossibility of fully capturing a plurality of practices. By focusing on what emerges, in terms of knowledge production, from medical practice – particularly when constrained by the need to be codified within information systems – the article underscores the importance of a qualitative analysis of digitisation processes. Its aim is to contribute to medical anthropology in dialogue with critical data studies, so that these fields may remain an integral part of the debate on new technologies. |
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