We all know that health care is becoming more complex. This complexity carries risks. The US Institute of Medicine report Crossing the Quality Chasm and an international overview by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development identified poor coordination and collaboration as a major (and growing) weakness of healthcare systems.1 2 Although the organisation and delivery of health care have been widely studied, the question of how to improve collaborative health care—that is, people working together around a common task or goal—has rarely been addressed either theoretically or empirically. Existing work on coordination of care is typified by “black box” studies that measure inputs and outcomes without examining the process of coordination.3

When undertaking a systematic review on the spread and sustainability of innovation in health care,4 I discovered a novel theoretical perspective on organisational routines.5 6 7 A subsequent search uncovered some important empirical work in healthcare settings that had been published in organisational sociology journals.8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Here, I synthesise the findings to consider how key theories, methods, and findings might be adapted and applied in a wider healthcare context.