Twitter was all a buzz on Monday, August 31st, when more than 300 tweets were sent out from a hospital staffer sharing updates during a three hour surgical procedure for Monna Cleary, of Lost Nation, Iowa. The information was primarily being fed to Cleary's family members who were in the waiting room of St. Luke's Hospital in Cedar Rapids, IA. However, the surgical tweets were actually being followed by over 700 people. Hospital spokeswoman, Sarah Corizzo, was typing the updates from a computer in an adjoining room just outside of the operating room. In her tweets, Corizzo detailed the procedure being performed, including photos of the surgeon at the helm of the robotic equipment and an internal image of stitches being done. Reportedly, the last update was “She’s doing great. She’ll see you soon.”
Tweeting from hospitals is not a new concept to me. My daughter tweeted from the labor/delivery room at the University of Iowa Hospital on the day she gave birth to my grandson. I was at her side taking photos with my digital camera and uploaded images to accompany her tweets via the twitpic application. Other family members were checking in for updates from us throughout the day from their computers at work and home.
What is Twitter?
Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service utilising instant messaging, SMS or a web interface.
photo (c) Phylameana lila Desy
I prefer to disagree with this tweeter thing during hospital procedures because it compromises to the word privacy and confidentiality…yes it is informative but i dont think its cool…im sorry…