Medical technology into healthcare and society : a sociology of devices, innovation and governance

From bandage to the bioreactor, this book looks at five different device technologies from inception to healthcare practice, drawing on medical sociology, science and technology studies and political science. It examines 'evidence', regulation and governance processes, and diverse stakeholders in innovating the technologies that shape health care. Healthcare is technological. Contemporary healthcare is provided through medical devices ranging from the bandage to the bioreactor, from the thermometer to cancer screening tests, from the MRI scanner to the new regenerative medicine. This book opens up the world of medical devices to examine the hidden pathways which shape how technology reaches the bedside. It brings to light a maze of the sciences of safety and efficacy, regulation, surveillance systems, politics, industry strategy, and roles of health professionals and patients. The author introduces new research in five different technologies of varying complexity, risk and usership: artificial hips; blood tests for prostate cancer; infusion pumps; the coagulometer; and tissue engineering. Drawing from the sociology of medicine and from science and technology studies, the book develops new concepts to understand the changing patterns of control and promotion of medical technology, and its meaning in society, to explore new meanings of medicalization and place evidence-based medicine in its policy context Front Matter....Pages i-xix Innovation, Evidence and Governance of Medical Technology....Pages 1-12 Approaching Technology....Pages 13-26 The World of Medical Devices....Pages 27-41 Artificial Hips: The Surveillance of Success....Pages 42-71 The PSA Test for Prostate Cancer: Risk Constructs Governance?....Pages 72-99 Infusion Pumps: Usership and the Governance of Error....Pages 100-130 Coagulometers: Healthcare Governance at Home....Pages 131-158 Device or Drug? Governation of Tissue Engineering....Pages 159-187 Devising Healthcare and Society....Pages 188-209 Back Matter....Pages 210-238 'Faulkner has...given us a broad-ranging scholarly analysis of a topic that will never cease to fascinate and challenge modern societies...[the] book brings a significant contribution to the current literature on health technology and society' - Sociology of Health and Illness