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The Digital Labor Ward: Teleconsultation in Rural Ghana

Baily, Heather Rose
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1586514278335033

Abstract Details

2020, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Anthropology.
The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a holistic understanding of the uptake of telemedicine in Ghana. A year-long, in-depth ethnographic study where telemedicine projects had been occurring for nearly a decade provided an ideal setting to study the theoretical and practical applications of telemedicine. This research examines two systems of telemedicine: the Ghana Health Service’s (GHS) national telemedicine program, and a parallel teleconsultation system occurring over WhatsApp. This dissertation has two overall aims. The first is to determine how telemedicine is being used for obstetric care provision in Ghana. Understanding how, when, and why telemedicine is used to handle obstetric cases can shed light on its usage for other, less common emergency cases. To situate the midwives’ work and their interactions with telemedicine within theoretical perspectives, this dissertation draws from the anthropology of reproduction literature, particularly regarding conceptions and definitions of risk. It also draws from postcolonial science and technology studies (STS) literature that examines biomedicine in postcolonial contexts, as well as other STS literature that theorizes how technologies are adopted and adapted. The second aim of this research is to explore the complexities of technological and bureaucratic systems, like telemedicine programs and the GHS, which are both hierarchical and social in nature. This dissertation will discuss the intricacies that must be considered in order to successfully integrate a technological system such as telemedicine into a large health system. Ultimately, I argue that telemedicine is being integrated into a complex system with set hierarchies and it reinforces authoritative knowledge and power structures. Telemedicine appears deceivingly simple from the outside: everyone has cell phones, so why not use them for consultation in the health system? However, while implementing a technological solution may at the surface level seem to be disparate from the social system, it is not. In order for a telemedicine intervention to be successful, it must be integrated in such a way that it does not change the normal flow of information, communication, and work that currently exists within the health system.
Janet McGrath, PhD (Committee Chair)
Vanessa Hildebrand, PhD (Committee Member)
Lihong Shi, PhD (Committee Member)
Christopher King, MD (Committee Member)
200 p.
Cultural Anthropology; Social Research
medical anthropology; ethnography; obstetric care; telemedicine; Ghana; teleconsultation; science and technology studies; anthropology of reproduction

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Baily, H. R. (2020). The Digital Labor Ward: Teleconsultation in Rural Ghana [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1586514278335033

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Baily, Heather. The Digital Labor Ward: Teleconsultation in Rural Ghana. 2020. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1586514278335033.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Baily, Heather. "The Digital Labor Ward: Teleconsultation in Rural Ghana." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1586514278335033

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1586514278335033
209
© 2020, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.