Da construção e reprodução do conhecimento e discurso médicos. Para uma etnografia da transplantação hepática

Abstract

Starting from some recent contributions in the field of medical sociology, this paper presents some results of an ethnographic study in a hepatic transplant unit. The author chose a qualitative methodology and used continuous participant observation as the primary method of collecting information, complemented by semi-structured and in-depth interviews applied to the different categories represented in the field of observation. The article begins by establishing the distinction between different kinds of knowledge, emphasizing the primacy of clinical experience over theory in the construction of medical knowledge; it discusses medical discourse(s) and practice(s) in what concerns the construction of the diagnosis; and finally, it addresses the question of uncertainty in the construction of medical knowledge.

Keywords

• medical sociology
• knowledge
• medicine
• medical practice
• medical knowledge
• uncertainty