Work

The management of enthusiasm: Motives and expectations in cardiovascular medicine

Year: 2010

Type: article

Abstract: Debates about appropriate action in medicine often turn on finding the right emotional orientation to new developments. In this article enthusiasm emerges as a key term in a professional 'vocabulary of motive' around innovation, complicating current sociological interest in expectations. The negative associations that adhere to this word among clinical researchers indicate awareness with the difficulty of managing hype and public hopes, but analysis of its use by cardiologists over the past two decades also reveals tension around more specific professional dangers, including 'credulity' and inappropriate activism. An emphasis on clinical trials offers one resolution, but additional narrative strategies can be identified when discussing when to start such trials here illustrated for stem cells for cardiac repair. In particular, while some suggest delaying trials until there is good knowledge of mechanism gained in the laboratory, others support early clinical research through gestures of therapeutic and epistemic modesty.

Source: Health An Interdisciplinary Journal for the Social Study of Health Illness and Medicine

DOI: 10.1177/1363459309357261

Author: Catherine M. Will

Institution: University of Sussex

Language: English

Topic: Biomedical Ethics and Regulation

Subfield: Physiology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funder: Economic and Social Research Council