TECHNOLOGY SEDUCTION - LOST OPPORTUNITIES IN CHILD HEALTH

This report examines the extent to which illness-based individual care and expensive, often unevaluated, technologies in paediatrics have se duced practitioners away from more cost-effective, population-based ch ild health activities and examples of new and unevaluated technologies in perinatology and paediatrics are given. The way in which these tec hnologies are introduced and taken up, by 'creeping incrementalism', i s described and a plea is made to implement only those aspects of paed iatric care that have been demonstrated to be effective. This would re sult in only appropriate technologies being used, avoid harm being don e to children and ensure that money is available for other effective p opulation-based activities that improve child health.