Have you ever experienced waiting for hours for a love one to come out of surgery or any medical procedure? Whether it’s just a standard procedure or a major surgery; waiting seems to be a part of the game plan. I remember when I had my first child 13 years ago (hospitals were not yet as “mommy friendly” as they are now), my husband had to wait for 18 hours in the room as I go through labor.

He had to constantly call the nurse in charge and ask how I was and if it was already time. You can just imagine how many times in those 18 hours of waiting my husband did his “rounds” to the nurse’s station. Waiting is indeed not a fair game. Not fair at all, especially if it involves serious surgical cases. Normally, a person will wait for hours in a waiting room, if he’s lucky, he may get a phone call or two from the operating room but for some, none at all. For those cases, waiting for something uncertain can be nerve-wracking.

To ease anxiety and restlessness for those in “waiting”, some hospitals in the US are now incorporating “Twitter” as part of their health care service. “Twitter” is a social networking service that keeps you connected with friends, family, co-workers, etc on the web or through your cell phone. The goal in making twitter part of surgery is primarily to inform and educate the patient’s relatives and whoever is interested with the condition of the patient. They would be able to follow the patient’s progress as they go under the knife.

In Iowa, 70-year-old Monna Cleary underwent hysterectomy and uterine prolapse surgery. Her surgery was closely monitored by family members through “tweets” sent by a hospital spokesperson present just outside the operating room’s sterile field. Family members were able to keep track of the developments of the procedure from a laptop computer inside the waiting room. Others who weren’t able to leave work kept tabs from their workplace. While the surgery was going on, the hospital spokesperson was able to send 300 tweets over more than 3 hours of surgery. Relatives were allowed to post questions and comments on the surgical procedure. The result; everyone close to the patient gave affirmations of their real and overwhelming experience of being informed on what is going on during surgery. It’s having “real time information instead of sitting and not knowing”.

Some hospitals in the US are now taking part in this practice as they try to build relationships with patients. Of course, this would only be made possible if the surgeon and patient are both open and willing to learn and engage in this technology. Before such procedure is allowed, both parties are informed of its restriction and if during the surgery it becomes a distraction or if complications arise then tweeting will be stopped.

As technology seeps in to the operating rooms, from the moment anesthesia is administered up to the recovery room, family members are given peace of mind. It is always comforting to know what is happening.