Presenter(s): Ally Waldron
Faculty Mentor(s): Melissa Graboyes
Poster 161
Session: Social Sciences & Humanities
This ethnographic thesis explores medical technologies in the context of the Cape Coast Teaching Hospital in southern Ghana. All too often the transfer and integration of medical technologies to the global south are based on the simplistic assumption that the advantages of foreign technology are self-evident and universal. However, in settings where conditions are harsh, resources limited, and culture dynamic, medical technology develops new meaning and purpose beyond original clinical expectations. To explore this phenomenon, I use ethnographic observations and field notes gathered from clinical shadowing in hospitals in Oregon and Cape Coast to investigate three medical technologies involved in maternal and newborn health. I show how the fetal ultrasound, pulse oximeter, and neonatal incubator change when exported to the Ghanaian context to fit the needs of doctors and patients while also working to change the way people relate to each other and their illnesses. In this process, medical technology becomes both a changeable force and a force for change in this hospital environment. Exploration of these examples of global medical technology transfer demonstrates that context matters in how medical technology operates and is operated within the clinical space. This thesis presents evidence against the idea that medical technology remains a static element of healthcare when transferred globally and also calls for more consideration of cultural, social, and economic institutions when exporting foreign medical technology to a new context.