My major field of study is nursing. More than one category comes to mind when thinking about how technology has affected the medical field. The most obvious one would be technology as objects. Machines allow nurses to monitor patients without even laying hands on them. This is a good thing when you care for a extremely premature baby who does not tolerate physical stimulation. This can be tied into using technology as knowledge and activities. By placing umbilical lines in a newborn vital signs can be monitored, blood can be drawn and fluids administered. In the intensive care nursery different categories of technology are used to create a womb like environment. When a preemie is born they are placed into a Versalet, which a combination of a warmer and isolette or incubator. A temperature probe is then placed on the baby. The Versalet then controls the air temperature based on the temperature of the baby. The baby can also be placed on a K-pad, which a heated water pad. In very low birth weight baby a simpler form of technology is used. A piece of Saran Wrap is placed over the patient. Simple but it works. We must not forget about documentation. Most hospitals are making the switch to computer charting. We are currently undergoing this process at my place of employment. Soon the cardio-respiratory monitors will be connected to the computer recording the vital signs. Gone are the days of paper flow sheets and manually entering the vital signs into the computer. So many categories of technology have affected the medical field. Narrowing it down in the next couple of weeks will be challenging. Wish me luck.