When it comes to Google Glass, there are plenty of instances where it’s not appropriate to have on. From a bar where people won’t take kindly to the headset down to driving, there are places Glass may not belong. When it comes to saving lives, there probably isn’t any arguing that Glass should have any place Doctors see fit.


Dr. Steve Horng works int he emergency room at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. During his rotations, he’s been wearing Glass, which has allowed him to multitask, gathering information as he treats patients. When an unfortunate soul came in with a bleeding brain, Dr. Horng took advantage of Glass. “Google Glass enabled me to view this patient’s allergy information and current medication regimen without having to excuse myself to login to a computer, or even lose eye contact” he said.

Because he could treat the critical patient without losing critical time to gather information, Dr. Horng believes a life was saved. For Beth Israel, a company named Wearable Intelligence has modified Glass to perform specific tasks. Doctors involved in the trial can get medical info on the fly, but don’t have access to unnecessary tasks like snapping photos or checking Twitter.

Wearable Intelligence likens it to plugging into a larger knowledge base. Wearable Intelligence CEO Yan David-Erlich said “With this ambient information stream, we start to blur the line between knowledge in your head and the institutional knowledge of the entire organization”. Sounds scary, but probably not as scary as bleeding out in a hospital. In at least one instance, a Doctor was able to accurately diagnose and treat a patient with a complex problem. We won’t say Glass saves lives, but it saves time — and sometimes that’s a deciding factor for medical professionals who really are saving lives.

Source: Re/Code

3 COMMENTS

  1. Security non issues: 1) Apps and Apps that manage where data going in/out of Apps can go, how they are encrypted and who holds the keys are To Be Supplied by qualified vendors. 2) MDs working in the field can be on VPNs so even home visits are covered.

  2. BS. If he can access the patient’s previous record/history through Glass, he can certainly do the same using his smartphone, yes? And don’t we all carry the phones with us now, almost every minute of the day except during sleeping? Please no more BS excuse for that Glass. It’s just a tech gadget that some of us like to have, but not need to have. There is a BIG difference between “like” and “need”. Please understand that concept.

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