Paper short abstract:

Design anthropology (DA) is an emerging discipline, within which we are developing a sub-discipline titled "medical design anthropology". In this paper we wish to present theoretical and practical outlines of this new sub-discipline, and its relevance to global health systems.

Paper long abstract:

Recently there is a new focus in medical sociology and anthropology, which is patient's practices and influence on wider global health environment (see for example vol. 36(2) of Sociology of Health & Illness). While various social science theoreticians have written about agentic abilities of objects, there is a gap in literature concerning various levels of socio-cultural influence of the medical environment through medical products. In our research we have outlined the importance of medical design anthropology (MDA) to the practice and theory of design (Ventura and Gunn, 2016). In this paper, we study the ways in which medical products influence the various participants in the hospital environment (medical staff, patients, families etc.). We will demonstrate our approach through several projects dealing with medical design. In this preliminary research, we will present various issues regarding the understanding of redesigning a scoliosis corset and hospital patients' uniform. Furthermore, we wish to highlight the importance of the medical design anthropologist as a key correspondent, drawing upon anthropology's holistic approach to bring attention to and understand the affects of medical products upon various participants. While psychology is indeed crucial for understanding of patient's behaviour, we argue understanding the relationality of products and practices in the medical environment can shed light on daily activities of staff and patients alike. By combing theory and practice of medical anthropology and design anthropology (DA) we propose our inquiry has potential to influence the discourse as well as the practices of global health systems.