Practical tips for conducting ethnography in a hospital environment

Listen to researchers from South Africa and India describe their experiences of conducting ethnography across surgical teams to better understand antibiotic use in surgical specialities.

Gaining insight from real life examples of the challenges faced in the field, and the solutions they developed, you will learn from the researchers who represent diverse backgrounds (nursing, pharmacy, and anthropology) about what ethnographic research entails and what can be learnt from it.

The basic principal of ethnography is observing participants in their natural, respective environments.

It is important to, when collecting data, be reflective and open-minded (especially being aware of your own personal bias). However, it is also necessary to separate observations from personal reflections.

The study was very useful and showed that antibiotic prescribing can depend on many factors. The perspective on work cultures and social dynamics, team hierarchies and the circumstances of patients (e.g. their financial situation), can all influence it.

The information learned can be used when introducing new interventions, and the team of researchers in this video believe that ethnography is a viable tool that can be used as a new perspective to influence AMR.

Please find a pdf of the PowerPoint slides in the downloads section below.