“Never the twain shall meet,” has been the oft repeated refrain when it comes to technology and palliative care.

Palliative care has traditionally focused on providing ‘low-tech and high-touch’ services, are these concepts outdated or have we entered an era of algorithm-driven automaton provided health-care(?) In the next 20 years, 47 to 81% of jobs in the future will be threatened by developing technologies, are palliative care jobs at risk as well? Can the tin-man actually do the job as well if he doesn’t have a heart?

Has science-fiction become science-fact? The team at Melbourne’s own Anatomics are leading the way with custom-made 3D-printed patient implants. What possible impacts could 3D-printing have on palliative care provision?

During 2011 one of Time magazine‘s cover stories was titled, “2045: The year man becomes immortal.” Fast-forward to the present day, are we edging closer to the dawn of artificial intelligence? Can a machine truly understand a person’s soul, when a lot of the time we still have trouble understanding each other?

Will social media accounts supplement or take the place of personal e-healthcare records?

What can palliative care do in these continuously changing times to keep itself relevant?

Join the team from @palliverse for November’s #PALLANZ  tweet chat on “Technology and palliative care.”

The tweet chat will be moderated by James Jap (@japmanforever), who is an avid follower of new technological developments in the world of healthcare and the rest of the world too. “I often become cross-eyed with one eye looking at the present and the other eye looking towards the future.”

Join us all on Thursday 24th November at:

• 4pm AWST (Perth)
• 6pm AEST (Brisbane)
• 6:30pm ACDT (Adelaide)
• 7pm AEDT (Sydney)
• 9pm NZDT (Auckland)
• (See here for other times)

Carers and patients are especially welcome, as well as health professionals, researchers, policymakers and interested community members!

If you are new to Twitter and tweet chats, check out our tutorial here!

Tweet chat schedule & topics

• Welcome & introductions
• T1  How comfortable are you with the increasing role that technology has in your day to day palliative care life? #pallanz
• T2 Do you think that palliative care can be provided by robots? Can cold hard steel provide a human touch? #pallanz
• T3  How has technology changed your palliative care life in the past 5 years. What’s on your wishlist for the next 5 years? #pallanz
• T4  Can the great and powerful wizards of Oz-tralasia provide a palliative care heart for the healthcare tin man of the future? #pallanz
• CT – closing tweets