Warfarin as a materially and digitally informed drug

Bibliographic Data

ID2391138
AuthorsJ Dickson (0000-0002-4106-599X, University of Dundee, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume23
Issue3
Pages312-327
Publication date2018-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Material Culture (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1359-1835 • E-ISSN: 1460-3586
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1359183518769108
OpenAlexW2797146515
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited23

This article explores the material and digital culture of warfarin, one of the most commonly prescribed medications in the world. The author uses the drug's 60-year history to describe its materiality and use, showing how and why it has become an informed material. Three ethnographic cases then show where warfarin has produced and is now reproduced by three types of information: NHS Trust guidelines, genetic codes and the INR (International Normalized Ratio). When a drug becomes so entangled with informational and digital technologies, it becomes reliant on them for its proper and safe use; it can no longer be just an informed material but is a digitally informed one

Aesthetics · Art · Drug · Epistemology · Ethnography · Materiality (auditing · Sociology · Warfarin · Anthropology · Ethics in Clinical Research · Medicine · Pharmaceutical industry and healthcare · Philosophy · Internal Medicine · Pharmacology

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