Comments, or tweets, used in the article were from those who followed the operating room twittering session. The commenters explained that they were fascinated by having the chance to follow an operation, but mostly, others were grateful to know that they could count on up-to-the-minute updates on their family member.
Many of the comments in response to the CNN article were negative. They thought the chief resident should’ve made better use of his time, rather than twittering. For example, “Joe Don” commented: “So, does insurance have to pay for the chief resident to sit at a computer twittering? No wonder health care in the US is so screwed up. Think of all the useful stuff he could have done instead during that time. Like, I dunno, save a life down in the ER or something.”
There were a few positive comments, and one of them from a “Andrew W” said:
This is excellent news! Really, it's no different than video recording the procedure and releasing it online... except this is far more convenient. It can be used for a variety of educational purposes for not only college students pursuing a career in surgery, but also for other surgeons to study the strategies of other surgeons.
I know some people will be up in arms about this, but it could greatly improve the ability of our surgeons if used on a massive scale.
Social media has proven to be beneficial to small businesses, reaching new audiences for established businesses, and even finding a relationship. Has medicine found a use for it, too? Has twittering in an operating room gone too far or is it just the beginning?
2 comments:
It's incredible how even surgeon's use Twitter in their professional careers! It is such a fast way to relay short messages and so simple to use.
I agree. This is incredible that a surgeon would be willing to Twitter during a surgery. I guess it is more surprising that he is allowed to Twitter, because most medical professionals are limited by their insurance companies with the information they are allowed to share. Many o.b.s don't allow families to film the births of their babies (thank goodness!) because of potential lawsuits.
So I guess this begs the question of what legal implications will the medical field and many others have to endure before they get shut down on this type of open communication? This is just the beginning and I foresee a lot of policy litigation in coming years.
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