Beware of Technological Imperatives and Commercial Interests That Prevent Best Practices!

It is naive to view technology as a mere means or tool to accomplish well-specified and established goals. This view of technology is naive because it ignores the institutional and human tendencies to “routinize” technology.¹ The danger is that once one has a tool, such as a Swan-Gang catheter or a fetal monitoring machine, the world turns into a place where these interventions must be used. The analogy is that when the only tool one has is a hammer, then the whole world can become resplendent with nails. At the heart of the problem is not technology itself. Technology has made lifesaving critical care possible and accessible to most people. The potential for misusing technology is heightened when clinicians develop a technological understanding of self and world. A technological view of self and the world is that the world, situation, and environment are meaningless, chaotic places consisting of resources...