Using mature technologies to innovate medical practices: a reflection on medical innovation taking socio-organizational issues into account

This article presents a reflection on how mature technologies can be used to innovate when they become elements of a new network of interactions, knowledge, and actors. Starting from analysis of the role of a mature technology, the electrocardiogram (ECG), in ordinary practices in the healthcare system and in a case of teleconsultancy among practitioners, this article discusses innovation in medicine by moving away from the simplistic equation “innovation = new technology“ and taking socio-organizational issues into account. In the case described, information and communications technologies (ICT) and electronic ECG provide the infrastructure with a new type of activity in which the practices of medical examination and specialist consultation are redefined by the new opportunities for interaction offered by remote consultation. Despite its low level of technological complexity, new medical practices can fill an important gap in the current configuration of healthcare systems. Connecting the General Practitioner's (GP) practical experience and the cardiologist's reading and interpretation of ECG creates a new medical practice with great potential for the risk prevention of acute cardiovascular events. The case presented provides useful insights to shift the attention from technological innovation itself to technology in use new socio-organizational configurations-insights that could also be generalized outside the medical field.