Tweeting From the Operating Room
By Tara Parker-Pope July 9, 2009, 2:48 pm
When a loved one undergoes surgery, family members often pace the waiting room or nervously await a phone call, hoping for updates from hospital staff. This week, a Missouri children's hospital used Twitter to update family members near and far about a child's surgery.
On Tuesday, surgeons at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., operated on 10-year-old Anand Erdenebulgan of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, who suffered severe neck burns in a fireworks accident six months ago. The burns had caused his skin to contract, and surgery was needed to place skin expanders so the neck tissue could continue to grow, giving the boy a normal range of motion. He was accompanied on the trip by his mother and younger sister, but the child's father and other family members had to stay in Mongolia. The surgery was performed in mid-afternoon in Kansas City, which was around 4 a.m. Mongolia time.
While the hospital's chief of plastic surgery, Dr. Viirender Singhal, operated, the public information officer, Sherry D. Gibbs, posted live updates on Twitter from the operating room. The "tweets" were visible to anyone following the hospitals Twitter feed, and the family gave permission for all the updates to be made public. Here are some of the tweets sent from the operating room:
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