The Machine at the Bedside
Strategies for Using Technology in Patient Care

This 1984 work examines concepts and strategies for using health care technology effectively and humanely at the bedside.

Stanley Joel Reiser (Edited by), Michael Anbar (Edited by)

9780521318327, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 30 November 1984

382 pages
23.4 x 15.6 x 2 cm, 0.54 kg

'With high technology making medical care more complex, more effective, and more costly, the role of the machine at the bedside must be comprehended by both medical students and physicians. This book provides insights into both the opportunities and problems that high technology medicine has created.' August G. Swanson, M. D., Director, Department of Academic Affairs, Association of American Medical Colleges

This 1984 work examines concepts and strategies for using health care technology effectively and humanely at the bedside. Applying knowledge from the decision sciences, ethics, economics, sociology, the physical sciences, law, history, and clinical medicine, this book provides a multidisciplinary framework for practitioners, educators, policy makers, and the public who must decide about and implement the technological agents of health care. Twelve chapters present basic knowledge about this technology, from the forces that create and disseminate it to the perspectives and techniques crucial for directing its use. The second part of the book consists of twenty-three case studies depicting the benefits and liminations of the chief health care technologies of our times, such as electronic fetal monitoring, imaging technology, intensive care, and genetic diagnosis. By discussing both theory and practice in the context of legal, economic, ethical, and other concerns, this work will help prepare health care students and professionals to deal with the complex issues associated with the use of technology in health care.

Foreword
preface
Part I. Overview: 1. The machine at the bedside: technological transformations of practices and values
Part II. Scientific Dimensions of Technology: 2. Penetrating the black box: physical principles behind health care technology
3. Biological bullets: side effects of health care technology
Part III. Creation and Dissemination of Technology: 4. The engineering-industrial innovations: clinical diffusion of health care technology
5. Embracing or rejecting innovations: clinical diffusion of health care technology
Part IV. Organizing Technology in Clinical Settings: 6. Technology' front line: the intensive care unit
7. Action with dispatch: technology in the emergency department
Part V. Applying Technology in Clinical Practice: 8. The unwanted suitor: law and the use of health care technology
9. The machine and the marketplace: economic considerations in applying health care technology
10. The technological strategist: employing techniques of clinical decision making
11. The technological target: involving the patient in clinical choices
12. Does technology work? Judging the validity of clinical evidence
Case studies
Index.

Subject Areas: Medical equipment & techniques [MBG]