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Dr. Kevin De La Roza and Dr. Hamish Munro , pediatric cardiac anesthesiologists at The Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children — Orlando Health , contributed this column to Live Science’sExpert Voices : Op Ed & Insights .

It ’s nerve - wracking for anyone to see a loved one wheeled into operating theatre and equally nerve-racking to sit in the waiting elbow room , often for hour , while doctors complete the procedure . For parents especially , no matter how much we reassure them before surgery , the fear in their eyes as we take their shaver into the operating way is obvious . We know the grandness of communication to help reduce their anxiety .

Expert Voices

Calvin and Emily Barr look at an image of their son, Calvin, Jr., during a recent surgery at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, Florida. The Barrs signed up to use the EASE app during their son`s surgery, allowing them to get updates via smartphones, including text messages, photos and videos.

Now , instead of render to assure our patients ' families and have it away ones with parole , we are also doing it with pictures and TV . Using a new app , as one nurse administers anesthesia to a patient role in the operating room , another can quietly habituate a hand-held machine to snap a pic of the affected role .

In just second , the same nurse can send that image to the patient role ’s family sitting in the wait way . It ’s called Electronic Access to operative event ( EASE ) , and is design to do exactly what its name implies — ease the minds of those who are waiting for and worrying about a child who is undergoing surgical operation . The raw app , which was developed by Orlando Health Doctor at The Heart Center of Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children , in partnership with the EASE team , sends data from the operating elbow room directly to the smartphonesof a patient ’s home and loved single .

One family wrote to us after experiencing EASE during their child ’s OR , saying , " this app should be usable for all ages and all procedures , " and that is the ultimate goal of the app . Whether the patient is six years old or 60 , the anxiousness experience by their syndicate in the waiting way is identical . The tool is an opportunity to reduce anxiousness , increase understanding and raise the reliance between doctors and family by alter the operating way experience from excommunication and concealment to comprehension and transparentness through effective communicating .

Barr family using EASE app, updates, surgery, technology

Calvin and Emily Barr look at an image of their son, Calvin, Jr., during a recent surgery at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, Florida. The Barrs signed up to use the EASE app during their son`s surgery, allowing them to get updates via smartphones, including text messages, photos and videos.

Throughout the duration of the function , we can send dozens of messages — some only a bare text edition , and others check picture or short videos — to explain exactly what MD are doing during different phase of surgical operation .

Since the text and images are charge flat to smartphones , family penis do n’t have to sit apprehensively in a hospital wait elbow room to get entropy . In fact , family member or loved ones who download the app can receive updates during surgery from anywhere in the worldly concern .

Since privateness is just as important as maintain fellowship up to day of the month , we use 256 - bit encryption for all messages , which is the same degree of security used in fluid banking transactions . We control substance abuser access , which means only the hospital can authorize masses to use the app , and all of our doctors are particularly trained to ensure abidance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ( HIPAA ) guidelines . Just like the pop photo - sharing software Snapchat , all messages and images broadcast through the EASE app are automatically deleted within 45 seconds and are never stored on any gadget .

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If you’re a topical expert — researcher, business leader, author or innovator — and would like to contribute an op-ed piece,email us here.

Our end is to make this process as seamless and unobtrusive as possible in the operating room . A circularise nursemaid is already responsible for update family by telephony , and we ’ve simply created a new , modern means to do it . For each operation , a nurse is assigned a twist and is responsible for for tracking the progress of the surgery and keeping the kinfolk informed . This appropriate surgeon to pore on the surgical operation , while the nurse can help reassure families without interrupting the routine .

The goal of EASE is to involve families and loved ace in their minor ’s operating theater to an extent that ’s well-situated for them . It allows us to give them planned updates and train them in a quick and dim-witted way . Most importantly , it keeps minds at simpleness during an often tenacious and overpowering process . In create and using EASE , our medico and patients have genuinely found meaning in the expression , " A picture is worth a thousand words . "

Family phallus candownload   the appfor free from either the Apple   or   Android   Store to their own wandering twist . By follow a bare registration process , a unique access code is generated which is then scanned by a healthcare pro and a secure connecter is made .

A nurse takes a photo during a recent surgery on an 8-year-old boy at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, Florida. Doctors there have developed an app that allows nurses to safely and securely send texts, photos and videos from the OR directly to the smartphones of family members in an effort to keep them informed on progress during surgical procedures.

A nurse takes a photo during a recent surgery on an 8-year-old boy at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children in Orlando, Florida. Doctors there have developed an app that allows nurses to safely and securely send texts, photos and videos from the OR directly to the smartphones of family members in an effort to keep them informed on progress during surgical procedures.

an older woman taking a selfie

A photo of Nick as he is sat in a hospital bed following surgery. He is wearing a blue hair net and a blue face mask.

a point-of-view image of an anaesthetist placing a mask on a patient

A photo of a patient with their surgical team after surgery. The patient is sat on a hospital bed and the team is gathered around him.

Human brain digital illustration.

an illustration of a needle piercing a round cell

a rendering of the rabies virus

A stock photograph of four surgeons in discussion before an operation.

Four doctors looking down during surgery.

two white wolves on a snowy background

A still from the movie "The Martian", showing an astronaut on the surface of Mars

An illustration of a hand that transforms into a strand of DNA

An abstract illustration of rays of colorful light

An illustration of a pensive Viking woman sitting by the sea

lady justice with a circle of neon blue and a dark background

a view of a tomb with scaffolding on it