Mac McCullough, assistant professor at ASU’s School for the Science of Healthcare Delivery, spoke Friday about hang-ups in the adoption of potentially life-saving technology.
He spoke to downtown ASU’s School of Criminology & Criminal Justice about disparities in available technology and adopted technology.
“We spend one-sixth of our GDP on healthcare, but are not getting a great return on investment — in this case because of the thousands of people who die per year from incorrect medical care,” McCullough said.
He used this as an example of why quick adoption of new technology is important, even when it comes to basic things like accessing patient information.
McCullough said that the adoption of new technology is a long process. Although some people are quick to do so — the so called “early adopters” — there is a large portion which is too hesitant to use proven technologies.
“We are not always using evidence we should be using,” he said. “We are not adopting everything we should be.”
He said the use of new technology could also benefit the practice of preventative healthcare.
The attendees from the school highlighted a parallel issue in the field of law enforcement.
A surprising recurrence was the discussion of early-adoption technologies enabling preventative policing. The crowd raised the issue of body cameras on police and how it could prevent accusations and occurrences of racial profiling by law enforcement.
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office was required to have 500 deputies wear body cameras after a judge ruled in 2013 that the department had discriminated against Latinos.
Danielle Wallace, a consultant for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, said she does statistical analysis to see whether they’re conducting racial-bias policing based on technology they have had to adopt due to a court order.
Wallace said the sheriff is proud of not having a cellphone or computer and believes in older ways of policing, so the sheriff’s office “will take some time to use new technology in the best way possible,” she said.
Cody Telep, assistant professor at the School of Criminology & Criminal Justice at ASU, said this highlights a concern with the adoption of technology in policing.
“There are the people who are willing, the people who are forced by court order and then the group that would brag and say they’re using (new technology), but are not actually using it,” Telep said.
He said both the medical and criminal-justice systems have these disparities in willingness that are what can cause missed chances in new technologies.
Contact the reporter at rsavitz@asu.edu.
