Friday, March 30, 2012

Healthcare and Technology: Live-Tweeting a Surgery

We’ve written a few posts about technological advancements in healthcare, but none so far about live-tweeting during surgery. That’s right…you read that correctly. 

Doctors at Houston’s Memorial Hermann Northwest Hospital made their mark in social media history when they live-tweeted during an open heart surgery. This is the first time such a thing has been done!
According to Mashable,
“Dr. Michael Macris performed a double-coronary artery bypass on a 57-year-old patient. Meanwhile, colleague Dr. Paresh Patel provided 140-character updates throughout the procedure, and answered questions submitted by followers of the hospital’s @houstonhospital Twitter account. Dr. Macris also wore a video camera attached to his head. Dr. Patel snapped additional photos, and posted some of the pictures and videos to Twitter. The procedure lasted two and a half hours, and the patient made it through fine.”
This story has been popular online, much more so than the hospital and staff expected. This is another powerful example of the role social media plays in providing a connection between people and information!

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