The Impacts of Innovation

摘要

The stethoscope is now such an iconic symbol of physicians and medical practice that we have a hard time thinking of it as a technological advance. Yet it was just that, and as such it encountered the same issues that many medical advances face. Invented in 1816 by French physician Rene Laennec, the stethoscope reshaped medicine from a practice relying largely on patient narratives to one that also involved the use of an instrument. Such a change was not without controversy. The stethoscope's use required training, and those physicians who did not want to undergo the task of learning how to use it were skeptical of its value.