What will Google Glass do for health?

Thursday, June 20, 2013

It’s probably the most anticipated and potentially transformative new gadget since the smartphone. But unlike the iPhone, Google Glass has also been heralded with a healthy dose of controversy.

Although few folks have yet managed to get their mitts on a pair, lots of people have some pretty passionate ideas about what the technology – which enables hands-free Web and camera access – will mean, for healthcare and society at large.

Earlier this year, Google put out the call “Explorers” who might be willing to test out prototypes of the device. Interested folks were encouraged to head to Twitter and Google+ and say what they’d do if they were lucky enough to get a pair in advance, appending the hash tag #ifihadglass.

The winners were famous and infamous (Neil Patrick Harris, Newt Gingrich, Soulja Boy). Responses ranged from “id travel around the world and film the experience” to “I would help push the limits on #AugmentedReality in #hollywood.

Unsurprisingly, healthcare and wellness figured into many potential users’ plans. “I’d use it to revolutionize healthcare. Imagine images filing directly to EMR charts and dictation on the fly all from Glass,” wrote one entrant. “I would get into Telemedicine,” wrote another.

Source: Healthcare IT News (link opens in a new window)

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Health Care
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healthcare technology