The aim of the project is to identify the organizational processes generating (or which may generate) inequalities in access to health services in the city of Bologna.
After a phase of exploratory observation, the research has focused on ethnographic observation of services deemed crucial for activating access trajectories. On the basis of a similarity/difference criterion, moreover, it has been decided to observe "dedicated" points of access (i.e. provided for "weak" user categories) and "universal" ones, viz.:

• the cultural mediation service provided by th e Associazione Mediatrici Interculturali Socio-Sanitarie at the hospitals of Bologna Centro (Ospedale Maggiore) and Bologna Nord (Ospedale Bentivoglio);
• Sokos (association of volunteer doctors working with immigrants without stay permits);
• Ambulatorio Biavati (clinic for persons in need);
• Pronto Soccorso (casualty ward) at the Ospedale Maggiore;
• a section of the CUP;
• 2 advisory bureaus;
• Centro per la Salute delle Donne Straniere e dei loro Bambini (health centre for immigrant women and children).

Ethnographic observation has been carried out in each service for a week. The main observation method has been participant observation, together with the shadowing of practitioners and ethnographic interviews conducted at the same time as the observation.
The fieldwork has now been completed and the research report is in the process of being written.

Researchers: Silvia Gherardi (coordinator), Rino Fasol (referent), Attila Bruni.
Period: 2002 -2005
Funding: Ministero della Salute, Regione Emilia Romagna, Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale – Università di Trento