Alexa in OR

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0ncogene

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What do you guys think about having Alexa in the OR ? I saw this while visiting another hospital over the weekend. Would this be a HIPAA violation? It's pretty nice to be able to turn off and on music with voice command.
 
What do you guys think about having Alexa in the OR ? I saw this while visiting another hospital over the weekend. Would this be a HIPAA violation? It's pretty nice to be able to turn off and on music with voice command.

I don’t even want an Alexa in my house - you have to figure that that thing is always “listening.” I feel like that’s a privacy violation waiting to happen.

The circulating nurses at your hospital won’t change the music if you ask nicely?
 
The circulating nurses at your hospital won’t change the music if you ask nicely?

Haha they would change it when asked. But you know when patient enters the room and you want the music off, all they have say is "Alexa! turn off the music". And it's pretty fun to be able to change music on command while operating.

Would also be nice if you can turn on OR light, suction, bovie with Alexa.
 
I would worry about privacy stuff with Alexa. But I think there are some companies working to develop a medical version. When out came to bronch I've of my patients the other day they were taking and labeling pictures during the bronch with voice commands. So maybe soon the lights and nice will all be voice operated too!
 
With a scrub nurse, a circulating nurse and who knows who else do you really think Alexa is is needed?
 
This brings up a great question, not just in O.R. or limited to Alexa. I always have my phone (iPhone) in my pocket when seeing patients. If I ask siri to call such and such it does. Is siri listening in on all my patient encounters throughout the day and is this a problem?
 
With a scrub nurse, a circulating nurse and who knows who else do you really think Alexa is is needed?

Oh Yeah. Especially in big cases, the circulating nurse may be running all the over the place to get things for the surgeon. But this is usually at the beginning and near end of case.
 
This brings up a great question, not just in O.R. or limited to Alexa. I always have my phone (iPhone) in my pocket when seeing patients. If I ask siri to call such and such it does. Is siri listening in on all my patient encounters throughout the day and is this a problem?

You brought up a good point. Siri functions very similar to Alexa with voice command. I am pretty sure this is a possible privacy issue that has not been looked into, because patient info has not been spilled into the public through this way yet.
 
This brings up a great question, not just in O.R. or limited to Alexa. I always have my phone (iPhone) in my pocket when seeing patients. If I ask siri to call such and such it does. Is siri listening in on all my patient encounters throughout the day and is this a problem?

Yes, it is listening..

A few months ago, my friend asked me what the wifi password was at work. I looked down on my iPhone and there was a pop-up that said "share wifi connection with (contact name)?" I pushed a button and it shot it to his phone and connected him.

Just last week my wife and I were texting about AHA CPR classes and I was lamenting on how rigid they were.. I fire up facebook a few minutes later only to find AHA advertisements in my feed..

I am opposed to alexa for the above privacy reasons, but frankly we have no privacy anymore..
 
Yes, it is listening..

A few months ago, my friend asked me what the wifi password was at work. I looked down on my iPhone and there was a pop-up that said "share wifi connection with (contact name)?" I pushed a button and it shot it to his phone and connected him.

Just last week my wife and I were texting about AHA CPR classes and I was lamenting on how rigid they were.. I fire up facebook a few minutes later only to find AHA advertisements in my feed..

I am opposed to alexa for the above privacy reasons, but frankly we have no privacy anymore..
Siri is always listening if you have it set to where you can say “hey Siri”.

I am unsure if they collect and record our conversations. I guess you just never know, but I can tell you your phone didn’t do what it did because it was listening to you.

In the first example, if you’re in wife and of someone in your contacts list tries to connect to that WiFi, your automatically asks if you want to share the password.

In the second example, if your browse the internet and were searching for CPR classes online, then your phone tracks all that and shows you those advertisements. This can be easily turned off in your phone’s settings.
 
Siri is always listening if you have it set to where you can say “hey Siri”.

I am unsure if they collect and record our conversations. I guess you just never know, but I can tell you your phone didn’t do what it did because it was listening to you.

In the first example, if you’re in wife and of someone in your contacts list tries to connect to that WiFi, your automatically asks if you want to share the password.

In the second example, if your browse the internet and were searching for CPR classes online, then your phone tracks all that and shows you those advertisements. This can be easily turned off in your phone’s settings.

1. Siri is turned off on my phone
2. My wife and I were discussing CPR class in an imessage thread..

For the most part, I don't care.. I suppose it's not that I don't care, it's that I accept that there's really nothing I can do about it..

I'm not sure how advanced the DOT is in your state, but my state has digital billboards that give estimated travel times to various locations, such as "I-75 is 10 miles away and will take 10 minutes to get there".. Did you ever wonder how they estimate that? The cell phone companies track the speed that their phones are traveling through those areas and sell them to the DOT.. Whats my source on this? I was able to tour the brain center of this operation at the DOT..
 
It's a good thing I'm not a surgical attending, because if I was every minute I'm operating would be fueled by Alexa playing Sandstorm by Darude on repeat at the loudest possible volume.

**trying to shout over the music**
"What? We missed a call from path?! Oh well. MOAR SANDSTORM!"

**surgeon 3 suites over**
"Wtf is that sound and why are the walls thumping.... oh it must be a Roxas day in the OR"
 
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