Rethinking the Clinical Gaze

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvii

   PDF

2. Introduction: ‘Where Great Need Meets Great Uncertainty’

   • John Gardner

   Pages 1-25

3. Understanding Innovation and the Problem of Technology Adoption

   • John Gardner

   Pages 27-56

4. A History of Deep Brain Stimulation

   • John Gardner

   Pages 57-81

5. Multidisciplinary Teamwork

   • John Gardner

   Pages 83-121

6. Body Work and Space

   • John Gardner

   Pages 123-144

7. Managing Expectations, Aligning Futures

   • John Gardner

   Pages 145-167

8. Measuring Clinical Outcomes

   • John Gardner

   Pages 169-192

9. Towards Patient-Centred Platforms

   • John Gardner

   Pages 193-214

10. Back Matter

    Pages 215-250

    PDF

This book draws on medical sociology and science and technology studies to develop a novel conceptual framework for understanding innovation processes, using the case study of deep brain stimulation in paediatric neurology. It addresses key questions, including:  How are promising and potentially disruptive new health technologies integrated into busy resource-constrained clinical contexts? What activities are involved in establishing a new clinical service?  How do social and cultural forces shape these services, and importantly, how are understandings of ‘health’ and ‘illness’ reconfigured in the process? The book explores how the ideals of patient-centred medicine influence innovation in the clinic, and it introduces the concept of patient-centred proto-platforms. It argues that patient-centred innovation can constitute an expansion of medical power, as the clinical gaze is directed not only towards the body but also towards the patient as a social being. This willbe an innovative and insightful read for academics and advanced students, as well as health service researchers with an interest in technology adoption processes.

• STS
• Paediatric Neurology
• Medical Practice
• Clinicians
• Neurotechnology
• Innovation Studies
• Medical Innovation
• Dystonia
• Deep Brain Stimulation

“In this well-documented book, Gardner surveys and assimilates a wide array of theoretical insights that examine this pioneering team in practice. … Gardner’s insightful history of DBS, and the crucial role played by clinical assessment tools in the innovation and governance of medical practices, make his monograph highly instructive. … Gardner articulates a pragmatic assessment that is based on an observation of actual medical practices. Hence, his book remains an important and unique contribution.” (Marilena Pateraki, New Genetics and Society, March, 2018) “Setting innovation in the context of Evidence Based Medicine, John Gardner elucidates attempts to redefine what counts as evidence and to make visible improvements that patients, their families and carers value but that cannot be captured by existing measurement tools. The book has wide appeal; it is written with both command and sensitivity and will be of value to all those concerned with the concept of ‘innovation’ - scientific, technological and medical, and more generally to those interested in the place of science and technology in health care and their remaking as they become entangled with human-centred practices of care.” (Dawn Goodwin, Senior Lecturer in Social Sciences and Director of PBL at Lancaster University, England)

• School of Social Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

  John Gardner

John Gardner is a Research Fellow in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. His research is situated in medical sociology and science and technology studies, and he has published widely on neurostimulation, regenerative medicine, and innovation. 

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