Tecnologia: definições e reflexões para a prática em saúde e enfermagem

Abstract

The theme of this edition, "Technolodies, Models, and Processes in Nursing and Health Care", pushes us to reflect upon the influences of technology upon human development in this century. Far from having exhausted the subject, we seek in this context to better understand that technology is important to health care in that it has implications for the interpretation of history, contemporary practice, the future of professions, and above all because it influences social actions, conceptions, and agreements.Among its diverse conceptions, technology incorporates the desire to influence the world around us. In its traditional fashion, technology manifests itself as both old and new objects and resources which attempt to increase and improve treatment and care in health care practices. It also manifests itself in the way in which health care knowledge and abilities associated with the use and application of the resources and objects that professionals maintain and access on a daily and progressive basis. In its current perspective, technology has manifested itself more and more within a technological system, in which governments, organizations, and people are integrated to an objective of maximizing efficiency and rationality. It is understood, thus, that it would be an error to suppose that technological innovation has merely a unilateral effect.Technology reveals the way in which people deal with nature, and create the conditions for interaction, which we then use to relate to one another. New technologies, present in the moments of people's lives alter the structure of their interests, or rather, the things about which they think. They alter the character of the symbols, or the things of which we think and alter one might as well say the nature of communities as the arenas in which thoughts are developed. However, it would also be an error to define technology simply as instruments and techniques, or to associate it to the comprehension of superiority, specialization, and/or professionalism.Technology has three layers of significance: that of physical objects, such as instruments, machines, material; that of a form of knowledge, in which significance is conceived to an object through our knowledge of how to use it, repair it, protect it, and produce it; and yet as it forms part of a complex set of human activities. It should be comprehended as a creation and as a phenomenon, for it transcends the simple definition of machinery. Before this complex scenario, it is necessary to reflect: How has Nursing positioned itself? What paths can be constructed for health care, in the sense of taking advantage of the opportunities that at times present themselves and interact, produce, and manage technologies applied in the field of professional performance?There is no doubt that this rapid growth which we denominate "technoscience" will continue to demand that professionals are more and more prepared to direct and accompany the use and development of technologies in a way that promotes convergence between human and technologica...

Functional disability of adult individuals with spinal cord injury and its association with socio-demographic characteristics

“…Therefore, like care, the role any technology plays derives from relations and socially constructed significance (24) . In this perspective, instruments are important for the sake of articulation and intervention in the objects.…”

Tecnologia de enfermagem na prevenção da úlcera por pressão em pessoas com lesão medular

“…O enfermeiro, no seu cotidiano, faz uso das tecnologias educacional, gerencial e assistencial, no entanto, apesar de os enfermeiros fazerem uso destas diversas tecnologias em sua prática profissional, eles nem sempre têm consciência deste fato, pois possuem um conhecimento ainda precário sobre esta temática (7)(8) .…”

O cuidado de enfermagem em Estomaterapia e o uso das tecnologias

“…Nesse sentido, a tecnologia pode se apresentar como uma medição da racionalidade e da subjetividade humana, fortalecendo e qualificando o cuidado 5 . Assim, o uso da tecnologia tem como finalidade principal tornar cada vez mais eficiente a atividade humana que, direta e/ou indiretamente, está a serviço do cuidado 6,7 . Na Enfermagem, a tecnologia gera impacto significativo no processo de trabalho, sendo designada como a aplicação dos conhecimentos científicos de modo sistemático no auxílio para melhor atender ao ser humano.…”