Using a Patient Work System Model to Systematically Assess the Social Determinants of Health

Exploration of patient work through the lens of the Patient Work System model (PWS) has typically concentrated on clinical tasks, noting only how broader contextual factors shape these tasks. The purpose of this research was to use the PWS to begin to explore patient work originating directly from these broader contextual factors, referred to as the social determinants of health. Transportation access to maternal health services was used as a topic for a case study. Semi-structured interviews with eight health care and human services professionals were analyzed through deductive and inductive processes. The results reflected the main factors of the PWS and identified unique sub-factors under person, physical environment, and organizational environment. This preliminary work demonstrates that there is potential to use the PWS to examine patient work arising from SDoH.