Medical Routines and Standardization: Ethnographic considerations on the institutionalization of HIV perinatal transmission prevention in an obstetric center in the south of Buenos Aires

Abstract

Since mid-90's, the implementation of a type of biomedical intervention including a set of technical procedures has enabled a dramatic reduction of the chances of mother-to-child transmission of HIV.I assume that the development of this new biomedical intervention as a routine in health care settings involves multiple relations between different actors and demands new care standards for the establishment of adequate "courses of action". This paper analyzes the construction and execution of routines and standards of medical care. It is based on an ethnographic study of the institutionalization of the procedures and technologies for the prevention of HIV perinatal transmission in a public hospital in the south of the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires. In particular the focus is on the analysis of medical routines for delivery of HIV-infected women. The study combines the analysis of observation's records taken in different spaces of the hospital, interviews with staff and women and a variety of other secondary documents.