Interventional STS: A Framework for Developing Workable Technologies

Abstract

Technological innovation is often positioned as a solution to the challenges of healthcare provision, yet the experience of bringing new technologies into practice has proven uneven and unpredictable. To realise the potential benefits of innovation, we need to understand the complex relations between contingencies and contexts that seem to be ubiquitous as new technologies are brought into play in healthcare settings. This article explores what the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) can contribute to the understanding of implementation processes, arguing that combining Actor–Network Theory and Normalisation Process Theory provides a framework for prospective research. Drawing on examples from a prospective study of a new point-of-care test illustrates how the framework enabled an understanding of the processes likely to be involved in its implementation within three healthcare settings, with implications for the continued technical development. In combination, the theories enable different levels of analysis, but it is by keeping them in tension that this approach becomes practically applicable. If we are to rely on innovation to achieve improvements in healthcare provision, we need to find a way to intervene in the implementation process, and STS offer the resources to achieve this.