ABSTRACT
This chapter frames the surgical operating theatre (OT) as a complex environment possessing numerous features which make it of interest to academics and others from outside the clinical world. In particular, it can be seen as a site where communication takes place at many levels and in many ways, within an embodied setting where a particularly rich array of modes is interwoven. Within that setting, several professional groups work closely together, maintaining their distinctness and identity while at the same time overlapping and intersecting with others. Each patient who undergoes an operation passes through this network of interwoven professional domains. Yet the OT and its practices remain largely inaccessible to those outside the healthcare professions.
