Saving lives: A historical and ethnographic study of resuscitation techniques
Resuscitation techniques are heralded as life-saving but they rarely fulfill this promise: the survival ratio for out-of-hospital resuscitative efforts rarely rises above 10 percent. I investigate this paradox of resuscitation technology by following the historical development of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and by analyzing how emergency personnel use the technique on a routine basis. The central question through my dissertation is: how does a resuscitation technique receive its shape and how does it shape in turn the world in which it is used?
Sociology, Theory and Methods, Health Sciences, Public Health, History of Science
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign