The Complexities of Boundaries, Task Claims, and Professional Identity in Teamwork: from Dentists’ Perspective

Abstract

This article concerns how dentists in a Swedish dental care organisation conceptualized work division when teamwork was requested by the senior manager and their boundary work in relation to dental auxiliaries. Data were drawn from semi-structured interviews with the dentists. The dentists’ made claims to tasks based on legislation and their wanting to focus on tasks that required their expertise. Dental auxiliaries may be reluctant to take on new tasks and become more involved in patient care, which indicates that they have some influence in the work division. Nevertheless, the dentists retained control as their invitation for dental auxiliaries in patient care was based on certain conditions. The dentists’ claim to certain tasks may have strengthened their identity as experts and reinforced boundaries between themselves and dental auxiliaries.