Live tweeting a health procedure may be fascinating, but it isn’t a new concept. The patient simply gives an okay and someone in the operating room uses a specific hashtag to tweet during the operation. Videoing a procedure isn’t new, either – outlets like UStream allow anyone with a camera and Internet connection to quickly broadcast to a global audience.
Both certainly have enormous potential for hospitals and patients, providing a new outlet to build the facility’s brand and comfort potential new patients getting a similar procedure. But seeing a video of a bunch of doctors and nurses hovering over a sleeping patient can become mundane very quickly.
What about adding showbiz to the mix? For the first time, a patient – and actor and musician – actually entertained others via social media while he was undergoing brain surgery! Brad Carter was getting a brain pacemaker implanted to help treat tremors he was experiencing. Using both Twitter and Vine video-sharing tweets, Carter – who was awake during the procedure – played the guitar while physicians at UCLA Medical Center tested his motor skills. Doctors turned the stimulator on to determine where the tremor went away. The guitar-playing helped the doctors find that right spot as Carter’s dexterity improved greatly during and after the brain-stimulation portion of the surgery.
The medical team posted live updates as well as videos on social media, making it one out-of-the-ordinary public event. More importantly, it may help alleviate future patients’ fear of something as big as brain surgery.
To learn about other ways how new technology is changing medicine and healthcare contact Wax Custom Communications at 305-350-5700 or visit waxcom.com.
