Rethinking the Clinical Gaze

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 will be an innovative and insightful read for academics and advanced students, as well as health service researchers with an interest in technology adoption processes.