Summary
Background Wearable face-mounted computers such as Google Glass™, Microsoft HoloLens™, and Oculus’ Rift®, are increasingly being tested in hospital care. These devices challenge social etiquette,
raise privacy issues, and may disrupt the intimacy of the doctor patient relationship.
We aimed to determine patients’ perception of and their privacy concerns with an archetype
of wearable face-mounted computer devices, Google Glass.
Methods Hospitalized inpatients were asked about their familiarity with Glass, how comfortable
they would be and if they would be concerned about privacy if their physician wore
Glass, if the use of Glass would affect their trust in their physician, and if they
would want their physician to wear Glass if it improved their care.
Results Most (73%) respondents were unfamiliar with Glass, though 64% would be comfortable
if their doctor wore Glass. Under half (46%) of respondents were concerned about privacy
with the use of Glass. Seventy-six percent (76%) of respondents stated their doctor
wearing Glass would not affect their trust in their doctor. Patients concerned about
their privacy were less likely to trust their doctor if their doctor wore Glass (17%
vs. 0%, p<0.01). Sixty-five percent (65%) of respondents would want their doctor to
wear Glass if it improved their care.
Conclusion Most patients appear open to and would want their doctor to use face-mounted wearable
computers such as Glass, even when unfamiliar with this technology. While some patients
expressed concerns about privacy, patients were much less concerned about wearable
technologies affecting the trust they have in their physician.
Citation: Prochaska MT, Press VG, Meltzer DO, Arora VM. Patient perceptions of wearable face-mounted
computing technology and the effect on the doctor-patient relationship.
Keywords
Technology - mobile health - face-mounted technology - Google Glass™ - doctor-patient
relationship
