Instant Information: The Real Appeal of Social Networking

For people who have followed the evolution of social networking sites, Henry Ford Health System's use of Twitter to provide real-time surgical updates from the operating room has made Health 2.0 history.

Last week's robotic partial nephrectomy was actually the second surgery that was blogged live by the Detroit-based system. In January, Henry Ford surgeons performed robotic surgery to a remove a cancerous bladder while simulcasting live to a symposium the hospital had organized in Las Vegas and blogging the surgery on Twitter, an increasingly popular micro-blogging site that limits users to writing posts of 140 character or less.

General curiosity aside, one reason the Henry Ford Twitter surgeries have garnered so much attention is the educational possibilities they bring to light for medical students, providers, and the public. Bill Ferris, Web services manager at Henry Ford, who helped set up the live Twittering, says the hope is that Twitter will eventually be used as an educational tool for medical students and residents learning about specialized medical procedures.

"We saw this as a great opportunity for medical students and doctors to be able to interact live, even if at 140 characters at a time, with the surgeon in the operating room. With this second surgery we saw an increase in followers from physicians and patients and a greater mix of questions. Some about robotic surgery in general, some specific questions about the case. Overall we see it as an effective way to interact with the surgeons as they perform the procedure," says Ferris, who says the hospital also plans to delve into another form of social networking by launching a Facebook page at some point in the near future.

"Right now we are just trying to figure out how it would fit into our strategy. We're looking at a lot of options: Hospital communications, a patient support group, another way for hospital staff to connect, a recruiting tool. There's a lot to consider," he says.

So how does a Twittered surgery work? In this case, the primary surgeon, Craig Rogers, MD, sits at a terminal guiding a robot from a remote console about eight feet from the patient. The entire surgical procedure is being displayed in 3-D on large monitors in the OR, so the person doing the Twittering, Rajesh Laungani, MD, chief resident of urology at Henry Ford Hospital, can give Twitter followers a play-by-play of the surgical action.

He can also ask specific questions of the surgeon as they come across his laptop screen, says Ferris. "The fact that this allows for interactivity as well as an archive for future review, are both important components. We recognize that we don't have it all figured out, I think we learned from this that we would like to incorporate video and more multimedia, but overall it's generated some really positive buzz."

Buzz aside, just how useful Twitter and the like will be in terms of formal medical education remains to be seen. Right now a physician isn't going to get CME credit, for example, simply by asking a question during a Twittered surgery. But Lawrence Sherman, president and chief executive officer of the Physicians Academy for Clinical and Management Excellence, an accredited provider of CME/CPD, says even slow adopters are beginning to see the value of social networking sites when it comes to education.

"Currently, the main value we're seeing is with peer-to-peer communication. As a CME provider I've been looking at different ways to use social media and incorporate it into CME. There are strict guidelines about what qualifies and simply tweeting without a needs assessment isn't going to cut it," he says. "However, I do think there are other ways to use social media and CME. For example, public and proprietary social media sites are good for making CME announcements or for tweeting from activities for people who can't get there."

And therein lies the real strength of sites like Twitter and Facebook. Whether they are ever recognized formally by accrediting agencies for their educational value, the peer-to-peer educational and networking opportunities offered by them should not be underestimated.

Take my own experience writing this column, for example. Friday morning at 10:00 a.m., I wrote on Twitter that I was "Writing my column for this week. Topic: social media in healthcare." Within 30 minutes I had a message from Joel Selzer, co-Founder and CEO of Ozmosis Inc., (which has a great blog on the use of social networking in healthcare) offering to answer any questions I had for the column. By noon, Joel had kindly introduced me via email to Sherman who informed me he had just landed in L.A. and I should call him at his hotel. In the space of two hours I had two new contacts and had completed an interview. For someone who is used to spending hours trying to track people down, hoping they have something relevant to say about the topic at hand, this was nothing short of miracle.

This kind of instant access to experts is exactly what Henry Ford offered with its Twittered surgery, and I can only hope that more hospitals will follow in their footsteps.