ABSTRACT
The health, safety, and well-being of individuals and organizations are intertwined with the physical spaces in which organizing occurs, physical space enables and constrains role performances and interactions. This chapter focuses on the intersection of: discursive patterns, work space, health and organizational communication. It proposes that the rethinking of communication that seemingly disconnected concerns for the gendered discourse of organizations, physical space, and communication dynamics may be integrated. Understanding Discourse as organizing occupations underscores a central claim: that one cannot positively or meaningfully intercede in the organization of health care without also understanding the significant and enduring influences of Discourse on medical workers' understanding of what they do and why they do it. Communication as design invites one to think about the physical space of health organizations like emergency departments (ED) in terms of how the arrangement of space reflects choices influenced by relevant and encumbering occupational Discourse.
