Abstract
Despite well-established medicalization theory, clinical practices and their specific local ontological constitutions are generally understudied. Drawing on regime analysis from science, technology, and social science studies, this paper examines how nursing practices enact the biomedical realities of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in Taiwan, and discusses their ontological implications. In order to address CKD in the daily lives of patients, nurses use a ＂maintain and compete＂ subjectification strategy by linking and integrating existing clinical and social practices. They connect their patients' social, interactional, cognitive and motivational modes of existence by reinterpreting complex medical indexes and clinical guidelines into simple language, help their patients make necessary adaptations in their daily lives to deal with CKD, address institutional and practical problems, and supervise the use of alternative therapies. This examination of the making of a new ontological infrastructure in clinical nursing practices extends the theoretical scope and local application of medicalization theory.