A number of interesting reports recently.
First.
Google Glass to Assist Parkinson's Patients
- By Anthony Cuthbertson April 8, 2014 23:00 GMT
Google Glass is being trialled in an effort to find new ways in which the smartglasses can be used to support people with long-term conditions such as Parkinson's disease and dementia.
Researchers at Newcastle University have been working with Parkinson's patients to investigate ways the wearable technology can be used as an assistive aid for people suffering from the condition.
Currently only available to developers and Glass Explorers, five pairs of the smartglasses were donated by Google to the university to assist in the research.
Early days
The technology is being used to provide prompts to the wearers for key behaviours typical of Parkinson's, such as reminding them to swallow to prevent dribbling and to speak louder.
For those suffering from conditions like dementia, it is thought that Glass can be used as a personal reminder for things like medication and appointments.
"Glass opens up a new space for exploring the design and development of wearable systems," said Dr John Vines, leader of the trial.
"It is very early days. Glass is such a new technology we are still learning how it might be used but the beauty of this research project is we are designing the apps and systems for Glass in collaboration with the users so the resulting applications should exactly meet their needs."
Lots more here:
Second.
5 ways Google Glass will innovate healthcare
April 11, 2014 | By Ashley Gold
Google Glass--no longer just a hopeful idea or cool trend--is slowly but surely disrupting healthcare for the better as various innovators come up with creative ways to use the technology and get results.
Most notably, as reported earlier this week, in the latest post to his Life As a Healthcare CIO blog, John Halamka, CIO at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and a FierceHealthIT Advisory Board member, discusses how Google Glass improves the lives of patients at BIDMC.
Over the past four months, Halamka says, he and his colleagues piloted projects that they believe will improve the quality, safety and efficiency of patient care. One of his colleagues, emergency physician Steve Horng, M.D., calls the user experience "fundamentally different" than tablet or smartphone usage. "As a wearable device that is always on and ready, it has remarkably streamlined clinical workflows that involve information gathering," Horng tells Halamka.
But Google Glass also impacts healthcare in other ways. In a post, Bionicly outlines eight advancements--here are a few:
- Mobile access to patient images and information: OneDx, a software platform, allows physicians to access medical reports, inpatient location and exam information on Glass. Docs can download studies, reports and exams on the go.
- Glass can receive EHRs on the go: Augmedix is building clinical applications for Glass to allow doctors to retrieve and input information into a patient's medical record, Bionicly reports.
- Getting fit with Glass: An augmented reality app in development, called Race Yourself, lets users run against themselves and beat personal fitness goals.
- Glass in class--for medical education: Christopher Keading, M.D., at the Ohio State's Wexner Medical Center, was one of the first to livestream an operation when he performed knee surgery on a 47-year-old woman, Bionicly reports. Clinicians can use Glass to teach medical classes to students geographically far from a professor.
- Glass for Parkinson's sufferers: According to Bionicly, Newcastle University in the U.K. is developing a new app for Glass to help Parkinson's patients. The app provides the patients with prompts while they're outdoors, contacts relatives in emergencies and has reminders in the user's field of vision--such as when to take their medication--to help them gain independence.
More here:
Third.
Beth Israel Deaconess Deploying Google Glass in ED
APR 9, 2014
Google Glass technology developed by San Francisco- and New York-based startup Wearable Intelligence (WI) has been deployed in the emergency department at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston after a successful pilot.
In an April 9 entry in his "Life As A Healthcare CIO" blog, BIDMC CIO John Halamka, M.D., wrote the hospital had been piloting the technology for four months.
"After several months of testing, we have deployed the product to clinical providers in the ED and are completing the first IRB approved study (to our knowledge) of the technology’s impact on clinical medicine," Halamka wrote.
"I believe that wearable tech enables providers to deliver better clinical care by supporting them with contextually-relevant data and decision support wisdom," he also said.
Google Glass is a wearable computer with an optical head-mounted display that shows information in a smartphone-like, hands-free format.
Lots more here:
Interesting times I reckon!
David.
2 comments:
Just in case you think this is a case of "technology looking for a problem" here is my take on how augmented reality can change clinical workflow .... but the story starts with the humble sticky and the information needs it implies, so have patience as you read ...
http://jamia.bmjjournals.com/content/21/3/414
Very interesting times indeed.
To my knowledge there are many google glass apps for health sector .... check this article which explains the apps for people who suffering form Parkinson ... these apps even helpful for Doctors and consumer ..
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