The first section, with papers by Atkinson, Erickson, Cook-Gumperz & Messerman, and Cicourel, focuses on “medical practices and health care delivery”. In keeping with the editorial ambition to obtain a fuller understanding of medical work, the practices analyzed here – e.g., team meetings, case presentations and discussions, the socialization of young doctors, and case records – fall outside the already well-studied domain of doctor-patient interaction.