ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with practitioners' knowledge of the technical system. An incident raises a host of issues regarding how knowledge factors affect the expression of expertise and error. Bringing knowledge to bear effectively in problem solving is a process that involves: content (what knowledge), organization, and activation. Much attention is lavished on content but, as this incident demonstrates, mere possession of knowledge is not expertise. The individual actions of the practitioner can each be traced to specific knowledge about how various physiological and pharmacological systems work; the actions are grounded in knowledge. Knowledge of the world and its operation may be complete or incomplete. A more subtle form of knowledge problem is that of inert knowledge, that is knowledge that is not accessed and remains unused in important work contexts. The chapter explores how the knowledge is organized and how effectively it is brought to bear.
