Twitter Provides a Peek Behind the Curtain of the Surgical Chamber
Sitting in the waiting room, eagerly anticipating news from the surgeon about the progress of a loved one, can be agony. Now hospitals are using the popular website Twitter to give family members, and the general public, a minute-by-minute description of the surgical procedure.
When Monna Cleary underwent a hysterectomy at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids she authorized hospital spokeswoman Sarah Corizzo to sit with a computer just outside the sterile environment, tweeting about the procedure. Corizzo posted updates with every new development, over 300 tweets in over 3 hours. They were followed eagerly by her children sitting in the hospital waiting room, and by 700 other Twitter users across the country.
In addition to providing comfort and connection with loved ones, the surgery room tweets inform readers about how surgery is conducted. Corizzo also posted information about the medical condition being treated, and answered questions about her posts.
St. Luke’s joins a number of other hospitals across the country using Twitter and Webcasts as service to their patients as well as an educational tool.