There are lots of people who think Google Glass is the answer to many healthcare problems: emergency response, surgical work flow, patient interaction. The jury is still out on its value because the device is too new and not in wide enough circulation to be put to the test of reality.
However, this video from the Stanford 25 blog changed my mind about the educational power of Google Glass. In this clip, Dr. Abraham Verghese wears a Glass unit and describes how he likes to begin his exam of a new patient with a handshake. He explains that a handshake is less abrupt or invasive as immediately starting an exam by touching the throat or chest. He explains how he smoothly shifts from a handshake to an exam, using both of his hands to register heart rate, rhythm, volume, and then to check the warmth of the hand and the pulse for clubbing, cyanosis, and vasoconstriction.
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What Google Glass adds to this explanation of this technique (which is old hat to most doctors, I imagine), is the doctor’s perspective, literally. The main video window shows what the doctor sees – via Glass – while a smaller window shows the entire scene. I know that doctors are smart and well-educated and solve many patients problems every day. I also complain about them sometimes and grump that they are slow to adopt new technology. This illustration of an examination technique gave me a new appreciation for everything a doctor can learn from a simple touch.
Verghese closes the video with wisdom from another doctor, “Patients will judge you not by the diplomas or certificates on your wall, but by the manner and ease by which you do the least maneuver.” Watching this video certainly made me wish I was his patient.
The goal of the Stanford Medicine 25 program is to promote the culture of bedside medicine and to help current and future doctors and other healthcare provides better at physical diagnosis. Verghese is a wonderful ambassador for this program. His TED Talk about the power of a doctor’s touch is funny, clever and very reassuring about the medical profession.
