Lärande av yrkesidentiteter : en studie av läkare, sjuksköterskor och undersköterskor

Sammanfattning: This dissertation is concerned with the learning of occupational identities in health care and medical services. The aim is to increase the knowledge of what characterizes occupational identities how these are learnt, and what potential driving forces exist that can contribute to the development of both occupational identities and health care activities.Learning is seen as a continuous process of participation in everyday social practices, in which occupational identities are formed, maintained and developed. Both occupational identities and social practices are context-bound. In order to shed light on the forming, maintaining and developing character of learning I have started from three different models; a social-interactionist, an institutional and a contextual.The dissertation is based on case studies of three care units. A health-care centre, a medical clinic and an anaesthesia clinic. The study comprises two data-collection phases. The first phase includes interviews with personnel and management at the three care units. The second phase includes self-observation studies in the form of diaries kept by personnel at the medical and anaesthesia clinic.It appears from the results that there are both similarities and differences between occupational groups and the activities in which they work. There also exist certain differences that have to do with the individuals' experience, career paths and length of employment. On this basis, occoupational identities can he analyzed on a occupational-related, an activity-related and an individual-related level. Learning can also from this point of view be seen as an interplay between those three levels.