The Machine in the Nursery: Incubator Technology and the Origins of Newborn Intensive Care by Jeffrey P. P. Baker, Baker

From the Publisher

In the late nineteenth century French obstetricians reported that a new medical device, the infant incubator, made possible the rearing of premature infants whose prospects until then had been nearly hopeless. The announcement set off a wave of enthusiasm that swept the United States. Hospitals opened the first premature infant nurseries, and incubator shows (complete with live infants) opened in numerous public fairs and expositions. Yet Americans did more than adopt the incubator; they reinvented it in the process. A simple domestic warming device became a complex life-support system intended to provide a complete artificial environment for the premature infant.

In The Machine in the Nursery Jeffrey Baker examines the transformation that overtook the incubator after it arrived from France in the United States. He argues that the apparatus furnishes an example of how social and cultural factors can fundamentally alter the evolution of medical technology. The analysis centers on the interaction between the technology and its intended "target," the premature infant.

To the extent that particular medical specialists in distinct institutions and cultures saw different populations of such infants, they were bound to interpret the incubator's purpose differently. The factors of institutional, professional, and national context — along with that of gender — were of special importance in shaping physicians' attitudes. Taken together, these elements enable us to understand the complex "branching" pattern that characterized development of the incubator in the early twentieth century.

Kathleen B. Weatherstone

This new book traces the development of the incubator as a medical technology available for treatment of premature and other newborns termed weaklings in the late 19th century. The purpose is to study a specific therapeutic technology, the incubator, in the context of the development of neonatal medicine. This comprehensive study of the interaction of technology and the growth of newborn medicine makes this a unique book. The book meets the author's objectives. This book is written for the historian, the physician, and sociologist. Specific practitioners interested would be neonatologists, pediatricians, obstetricians and perinatologists, neonatal nurse practitioners, and nurses. The author appears to be a credible authority based on his extensive research and his work as a pediatric practitioner. He is not a neonatologist and is not completely current on specific practices. The book has adequate, well-referenced illustrations that add tremendously to the vitality of the book. The extensive notes, essays on sources and index are well written and demonstrate the author's extensive research, adding credibility to the arguments presented. The overall appearance is attractive and the book is a manageable size. The evolution of incubator technology in France and the transfer to the United States is studied. This is combined with the history of how the social environment in both countries shaped the practice of neonatal medicine. This particularly relates to the changing concept of motherhood and how the medical care initially provided by the mother was replaced by the evolving study and care provided by the physician and then the professional nurse. The history of the conflict betweenthe approach of the obstetrician versus the pediatrician in the focus of care of the premature infant is also examined. My personal opinion is that this is quite an interesting book, providing insights into the development of neonatal medicine.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Kathleen B. Weatherstone, MD (University of Kansas Medical Center)
Description:This new book traces the development of the incubator as a medical technology available for treatment of premature and other newborns termed ""weaklings"" in the late 19th century.
Purpose:The purpose is to study a specific therapeutic technology, the incubator, in the context of the development of neonatal medicine. This comprehensive study of the interaction of technology and the growth of newborn medicine makes this a unique book. The book meets the author's objectives.
Audience:This book is written for the historian, the physician, and sociologist. Specific practitioners interested would be neonatologists, pediatricians, obstetricians and perinatologists, neonatal nurse practitioners, and nurses. The author appears to be a credible authority based on his extensive research and his work as a pediatric practitioner. He is not a neonatologist and is not completely current on specific practices.
Features:The book has adequate, well-referenced illustrations that add tremendously to the vitality of the book. The extensive notes, essays on sources and index are well written and demonstrate the author's extensive research, adding credibility to the arguments presented. The overall appearance is attractive and the book is a manageable size.
Assessment:The evolution of incubator technology in France and the transfer to the United States is studied. This is combined with the history of how the social environment in both countries shaped the practice of neonatal medicine. This particularly relates to thechanging concept of motherhood and how the ""medical"" care initially provided by the mother was replaced by the evolving study and care provided by the physician and then the professional nurse. The history of the conflict between the approach of the obstetrician versus the pediatrician in the focus of care of the premature infant is also examined. My personal opinion is that this is quite an interesting book, providing insights into the development of neonatal medicine.

Booknews

A history of the incubator's evolution from a French innovation to warm babies to its American reinvention as a complex life-support system. Baker (pediatrics, Duke U. Medical Center) argues that the transformation of the incubator serves as an example of how social and cultural factors alter medical technology, documenting the incubators rise and fall and resurrection in the 1940s. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Rating

3 Stars from Doody

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