title: Moving beyond local practice: reconfiguring the adoption of a breast cancer diagnostic technology.
abstract: This paper explores the ways in which technological innovation becomes adopted and incorporated into healthcare practice. Drawing upon the notion of 'field of practices', we examine how adoption is subject to spatially and temporally distributed reconfigurations across a multi-level set of practices, ranging from the policy level to the micro-level setting of individual action. The empirical backdrop is provided by a case study of the adoption of Breast Lymph Node Assay (BLNA), a diagnostic technology innovation for the treatment of breast cancer patients. Our aim is to contribute to the development of a more comprehensive analysis of the processes surrounding the adoption and incorporation of complex healthcare technologies into routine practice.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Health and Society, Newcastle University, UK. Electronic address: gregory.maniatopoulos@ncl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Gregory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Maniatopoulos
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Science, University of Warwick, UK. Electronic address: rob.procter@warwick.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Procter
authors.affiliation: Herbert Simon Institute, University of Manchester, UK. Electronic address: sue.llewellyn@mbs.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Llewellyn
authors.affiliation: Herbert Simon Institute, University of Manchester, UK. Electronic address: gill.harvey@mbs.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Gill
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Harvey
authors.affiliation: Herbert Simon Institute, University of Manchester, UK. Electronic address: alan.boyd@mbs.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boyd
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D004739:England; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006284:Health Plan Implementation; D006801:Humans; D062069:Inventions; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D021701:Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy; D013222:State Medicine
keywords: Adoption; Breast cancer; Diagnostic technology; Healthcare practice; Reconfiguration; Technological innovation; United Kingdom