Google Glass used in the OR for the first time

Dr. Rafael Grossman, wearing Google Glass in the OR

Here's a little story for all of those detractors who say that Google Glass is nothing more than way to secretly take pictures and video of people hanging around in shady bars. Dr. Rafael Grossmann, of the Eastern Maine Medical Center, just used the device to help him record a surgical procedure. The patient had given his consent, so there was nothing sinister going on. And Dr. Grossman made sure that nothing that could identify the patient was recorded or transmitted.

The surgery, known as a gastrostomy, was performed to place a feeding tube inside the patient and was done endoscopically. Even the patient's face was blocked from view. The Doctor set up a Google Glass Hangout which connected to an Apple iPad which received the live streaming feed from the Google Glass device that he wore. According to Dr. Grossman, this was the first time that Google Glass had been used in an operating room.

The patient survived the surgery and there were no complications, which means that we should see more Google Glass wearing surgeons in the future. While Dr. Grossman picked a simple and commonly done procedure to test out Google Glass in the OR, this could be just the beginning of Google Glass becoming normal surgical equipment.

"By performing and documenting this event, I wanted to show that this device and its platform, are certainly intuitive tools that have a great potential in Healthcare, and specifically for surgery, could allow better intra-operative consultations, surgical mentoring and potentiate remote medical education, in a very simple way"-Dr. Rafael Grossman

source: @ZGJR via PCMag