Howell Joel D
ANN ARBOR, MICHIGAN.
Trans Am Clin Climatol Assoc. 2016;127:341-349.
Western medicine has long been dominated by a faith in the value of science and a belief in the power of technology. I study the history of how technology came to be seen as useful by focusing on one of the most dramatic new tools ever discovered: the X-ray machine. I use a statistically valid sampling of case records from 1900-1925 at the Pennsylvania Hospital to ask why and when physicians at these hospitals came to see X-rays as useful for patient care. Soon after the X-ray's 1895 invention there was seemingly worldwide agreement that it could be used to diagnose common conditions such as fractures and foreign bodies. However, it was only several decades later, after the underlying structure of the hospital changed due to importation of technologies from business, that X-ray images became seen as part of routine patient care.
长期以来，西医一直秉持着对科学价值的坚信和对技术力量的笃信。我通过聚焦有史以来最具影响力的新工具之一：X光机，来研究技术是如何被视为有用的历史。我使用了宾夕法尼亚医院1900年至1925年具有统计学有效性的病例记录样本，来探究这些医院的医生为何以及何时开始认为X光对患者护理有用。1895年X光发明后不久，全球似乎就达成了共识，即它可用于诊断骨折和异物等常见病症。然而，直到几十年后，由于从商业领域引入技术，医院的基础结构发生了变化，X光图像才被视为常规患者护理的一部分。
