Six honest serving men.

Abstract

The practice of medical-surgical nursing is "a dynamic, evolutionary process" and the proliferation of health care technology has been instrumental in its evolution. This proliferation and the goal of quality patient care in medical-surgical nursing practice are unlikely to change. However, the provision of quality care depends on the use of appropriate technology. Nurses and materiel managers working collaboratively can identify and promote the use of appropriate health care technology by applying the framework of technology assessment. This framework is analogous to Kipling's six honest serving men (They taught me all I knew); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. The Elephant's Child What, Why, and When advise selective and judicious use of appropriate health care technology. How, Where, and Who reaffirm knowledgeable and proficient use with registered nurses, the patients' "link with the personal, human world within an impersonal, electronic world." Together, the six honest serving men emphasize that the primary purpose of health care technology is the improvement of human health "from the individual level through and including national health policy."