• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

33 Charts

  • About
    • What is 33 Charts?
    • Bryan Vartabedian MD
  • Blog
  • 33mail
  • Foci
    • Social/Public Media
    • Physicians
    • Patients
    • Hospitals
    • Information
    • Process/Flow
    • Technology
    • Digital culture
    • Future Medicine
  • The Public Physician
Hospitals, Information, Physicians, Social/Public Media, Technology

Periscope as a Medical Medium

June 29, 2015 By Bryan Vartabedian · Reading Time: 2 minutes

periscope (1)Doctors are increasingly sharing procedures on Periscope. For the uninformed, Periscope is an in-line Twitter application that facilitates live, personal broadcasting. Most recently, an achilles tendon repair from Ohio State was ’scoped’. I thought it sounded pretty interesting, but I got there too late. The party was over and the video was gone.

The use of Periscope in the OR is the next iteration of live tweeting. The argument with live tweeting was that it was educational. But the reality is that it was a new way for a hospital to have its 15 minutes of fame. On the Visibility-Value Continuum, many of these events have tilted toward visibility.

And when it comes to Periscope and operative procedures, what’s new may be what’s old again.

Admittedly, broadcasts are more interesting than live tweets. But what’s more educational is the enduring nature of a recording that can be seen, linked to, and commented on months later. This would be a recording on YouTube or Vimeo. Periscope, on the other hand, fits into what might be referred to as an ephemeral media. It’s a piece of viewable information that disappears after a time.

Before choosing Periscope as a medium, I might first ask myself whether this is an event that needs a live, in-line broadcast? Or would it be better served recorded and published.

Live has its draw, for sure. And there are things about Periscope that make it valuable. It’s real value may come from the fact that it’s just easy. Even if I wanted to, the process of finding and uploading to a YouTube Channel can be a small chore that raises the barrier to sharing. And for heavy twitter users like myself, Periscope is part of my workflow. Perhaps more importantly, it’s where my audience is.

When it comes to (free open access) medical education, enduring content that’s searchable and retrievable is where the money is. Live has its place, but I’m concerned that it could be more for visibility than value.

Related Articles

  • Medical Microcelebrity
  • Pokemon Go and Medical Mindfulness
  • Outward Thinking Medical Leaders

Related Articles

  • Medical Microcelebrity
  • Pokemon Go and Medical Mindfulness
  • Outward Thinking Medical Leaders

Primary Sidebar

Bryan Vartabedian, MD

Bryan Vartabedian, MD
Bryan Vartabedian is the Chief Pediatrics Officer at Texas Children’s Hospital North Austin and one of health care’s influential
voices on technology & medicine.
Learn More

Popular Articles

  • The Fate of Fired Cleveland Clinic Resident Lara Kollab
  • Cures Act Final Rule – How It Will Change Medicine
  • 12 Things About Doximity You Probably Didn’t Know
  • Should Physicians Give Their Cell Phone Number to Patients?
  • Doximity Dialer Video – Telemedicine’s Latest Power Player

Sign up for 33mail newsletter

Featured Articles

Doctors and social media: Damned if you engage, damned if you don’t

Context Collapse and the Public Physician

100,000 Connected Lemmings

Doctors and the Endemic Culture of Permission

Yes, Doctor

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Footer

What is 33 Charts?

With a mashup of curated and original content that crosses the spaces of digital health, media, communication, technology, patient experience, digital culture, and the humanities, 33 charts offers unique insight and analysis on the changing face of medicine.

Founded in 2009 as a center of community and thought leadership for the issues doctors face in a digital world, 33 charts was included in the National Library of Medicine permanent web archive in 2014.
Learn More

Foci

  • Digital culture
  • Digital Health
  • EHR/Health IT
  • Future Medicine
  • Hospitals
  • Information
  • Patients
  • Physicians
  • Process/Flow
  • Quality
  • Social/Public Media
  • Technology

Copyright © 2023 · 33 Charts · Privacy Policy