Prescription delegation in primary care: organizational arrangements serving the shift of professional boundaries

Abstract

The delegation of prescription is one of the responses to the pressures affecting healthcare delivery. It establishes a new agency relationship, also known as a mandate relationship, between healthcare professionals who were previously separated by various boundaries. Organizational approaches to the agency relationship emphasize the role of organizational arrangements in managing the risks it entails. This article demonstrates that such arrangements also contribute to shifting boundaries between professionals. While certain elements of the arrangement, such as the protocol, play a central role, their impact mainly arises from their combination.