Google Glass in Medicine: Why There Is Promise

In an interview on GlassStories, Kyle Samani gives the most cogent discussion of the pros and cons of Glass. He emphasizes that there is a cost to glass – not just financial but the fact that you have to wear them all the time while you have a fully functional smart phone in your pocket. So he sees limitations to the appeal to general consumers other than the geek coolness. However, on the enterprise side, especially in medicine, he sees real use cases. Specifically:

In an interview on GlassStories, Kyle Samani gives the most cogent discussion of the pros and cons of Glass. He emphasizes that there is a cost to glass – not just financial but the fact that you have to wear them all the time while you have a fully functional smart phone in your pocket. So he sees limitations to the appeal to general consumers other than the geek coolness. However, on the enterprise side, especially in medicine, he sees real use cases. Specifically:

• physicians (and other healthcare providers) need their hands to work whether it is surgery or a physical exam
• physicians (and other healthcare providers) are mobile whether moving from one exam or hospital room to the next or traveling between care sites
• physicians (and other healthcare providers) are constantly interacting with people, either patients or colleagues
• physicians (and other healthcare providers) need to look things up, communicate with others
• physicians (and other healthcare providers) need to have clean hands – handling a mobile phone means transmitting germs, they need to wash their hands after each use even if they are using their mobile device at the bedside. The hands free commands in Glass enable them to avoid this
• he also thinks the privacy concerns are exaggerated – less deceptive than a mobile phone

Watch the full video interview.