Managing collectively organizational tensions : the strategies of articulation of care and radiation protection in nuclear medicine[Gérer collectivement les tensions organisationnelles du travail : les stratégies d’articulation des logiques de soin et de radioprotection en médecine nucléaire]

The development of nuclear medicine since the 1960's has led to ask the question of the organization of care work in a context of exposure "low doses" radioactivity for which the risks are still unknown. Exposure to radioactivity involves the implementation of radiation protection measures that are potentially contradictory with the care work. From researches on organizational tensions and using the concept of articulation, this article examines the strategies of articulation of the logics of care and radiation protection in the practices of health professionals in nuclear medicine. A qualitative study conducted in two nuclear medicine departments of a university hospital, reveals that the articulation of the logics of care and radiation protection is based on practices of division of labour, not only between health professionals but also through the transfer of tasks to the patients relatives as well as patients themselves. These various strategies of articulation, which aim to manage a tension through the compatibility of two heterogeneous and divergent logics, produce in return a hybridization of the logics of care and radiation protection.