Google Glass in Head and Neck Surgery

Abstract

Objectives:

(1) Implement the use of Google Glass in the operating room and in the office for teaching purposes and intraoperative consultations. (2) Recognize the potential for wearable technologies to maximally leverage the electronic medical record (EMR) as a platform to optimize communication between physicians and care for patients.

Methods:

Google Glass is a wearable camera with an optical head mounted display (OHMD) with voice control and internet connectivity via either wireless or Bluetooth-smartphone tethering. The OHMD was used for procedures including tonsillectomy, endoscopic nasal polypectomy, office-based vocal cord injection, and flexible transnasal laser laryngoscopy.

Results:

The smartphone technology was used to successfully broadcast the surgical procedures to consultant surgeons off-site as well as mentor resident physicians during procedures. Procedures were performed without complications on patients under general anesthesia as well as patients under local anesthesia without sedation.

Conclusions:

We report, to our knowledge, the first uses of Google Glass in head and neck surgery. This feasibility study will review potentials for Google Glass, including resident teaching and intraoperative consultations. We will address lessons learned thus far in optimizing the view obtained from the OHMD. We will also discuss implications of wearable technology in the hospital environment from the standpoint of the future of telemedicine, the consent process, and the potential for novel user interfaces with the EMR.