Introduction. The area of documentary practices in complex, mobile, unpredictable and time critical contexts is understudied. This paper outlines a conceptual framework suitable for empirical studies of the use and production of documents in such contexts. 

Method. The development of the conceptual framework is grounded in a set of empirical observations from previous studies of prehospital emergency care, and conceptually shaped by practice theory and critical document theory. 

Analysis. By drawing on a set of key concepts from critical document theory and materiality oriented practice theory, three empirical examples from prehospital emergency care, in which documents are in focus, are analysed. 

Results. The empirical cases illustrate that the use and production of documents must be seen as integral with, and in some cases inseparable from, the overall work of the emergency medical services (EMS) clinicians. 

Conclusions. By conceptualizing documents as agents and that which is going on in the empirical setting as practices and bundles of practices, the paper demonstrates how documentation is incorporated in context and functions as a mutually shaping part of the arrangement in which it takes place. The prime novelty in the study is the innovative combination of practice theory and critical document theory.