[Two recent stories from Campus Technology describe partnerships between GigXR and universities to expand the development of presence-evoking, safe-to-fail holographic simulations for medical training. The original version of the first story below includes a one-minute video (also available via YouTube). For more details, a 37 minute December 2020 GigXR Holographic Standardized Patients webinar from HealthySimulation.com is available via YouTube. –Matthew]
[From Campus Technology]
University of Cambridge, Cambridge Hospitals Partner with GigXR to Co-Create Holographic Simulation Medical Training
By Kristal Kuykendall
January 6, 2022
GigXR, a global provider of extended reality (XR) solutions for instructor-led teaching and training, has partnered with the University of Cambridge and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to co-create holographic acute-care simulations for training medical professionals at every level, according to a news release.
Using mixed reality — merging physical environments with hyper-realistic digital elements — learners will be able to interact with holographic patients to practice making high-level treatment and intervention decisions in real time. Through GigXR’s Immersive Learning Platform, the new holographic simulations also aim to give every learner unfettered access to safe-to-fail simulation scenarios while they are guided by top experts in medicine and healthcare education.
“Simulating real-world, real-time medical care requires interactive, responsive patients, medical tools and evolving scenarios that conventional methods, such as manikins, task trainers and standardized patients, and even virtual and augmented realities, cannot accurately recreate,” said Arun Gupta, Director of Postgraduate Education, Cambridge University Health Partners. “Mixed reality not only allows us to create patient holograms that will have realistic medical responses to interventions, it also merges the latest advancements in hardware devices, software, remote capabilities and expertise, to scale access to cutting-edge medical knowledge and training tools.”
Instructors will be able to access and share simulation scenarios, change patient vitals, introduce complications, and record observations and discussions, all while projecting the holographic media using a mixed-reality headset into a real-life classroom, teaching hospital, or remote individual study. Learners can participate in the holographic patient simulations using either a mixed-reality headset or a smartphone or tablet.
“Conventional simulations are heavily resource-dependent, which makes it difficult to create a global standard of medical training,” Gupta said in the news release. “By partnering with GigXR, we’re empowering instructors and institutions to usher in a new era of simulation that facilitates the seamless exchange of global medical knowledge using future-proof technology that transforms those insights from theory to true-to-life practice.”
The simulations will include scenarios across multiple pathologies, such as anaphylactic shock, acute asthma, acute pulmonary embolism and community acquired pneumonia, so that learners can master evolving situations and reinforce acute-care skills.
The holographic simulations will create a more realistic medical simulation that’s not possible when an actor portraying a patient isn’t really ill, which means diagnostic tools can’t actually be useful during simulations. With the new GigXR-Cambridge holographic simulations, learners can grab a holographic stethoscope and listen to the holographic patient’s lungs to assess and treat clinical conditions like COPD or pneumonia, according to the news release.
As the holographic simulations are launched under the new partnership, University of Cambridge also will be crafting research benchmarks and criteria for evaluating learning and patient outcomes with mixed-reality devices, as well as evaluating the products and resulting efficiencies for the institution. The research will guide future development, GigXR said, so that the holographic simulations will come to market optimized and supported by academic insights.
GigXR, the University of Cambridge and Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust plan to launch the holographic simulations in mid-2022. Los Angeles-based GigXR is a provider of extended-reality learning systems for medical and nursing schools, hospitals, higher education, and the Department of Defense.
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[From Campus Technology]
U Michigan Health to Tap Mixed Reality for Student Clinical Practice
By Dian Schaffhauser
December 20, 2021
The University of Michigan Health is co-developing a mixed-reality curriculum for medical students. The institution is working with GigXR to develop the XR Procedure Training Suite, a training application that uses holographic patients and mixed reality to help students develop manual and practical skills.
GigXR, which produces HoloHuman and HoloPatient, is a provider of immersive learning solutions for universities and medical systems.
According to the two organizations, learners will be able to observe numerous patient “presentations” and practice diagnostic skills such as taking vitals, listening to the patient’s lungs and comparing X-rays and CT scans. Instructors can also introduce complications to the scenarios, such as quickly deteriorating vital signs, disease progression, punctured vessels, vomiting, bleeding, procedural complications and pain.
“Traditional simulation methods require students to work with lab equipment, such as manikins and task trainers, that is increasingly difficult to access and apply at scale,” said Mark Cohen, a professor of Surgery, Pharmacology and Biomedical Engineering at Michigan Medicine, the academical medical center of the university, in a press release. “Mixed reality places the holographic patient right in front of the learner, to visualize critical techniques, such as aspirating an abscess and line placement, while still maintaining the collaborative, hands-on experience of standing around the patient with other learners.”
Cohen added that being able to “safely practice skills and techniques outside of a simulation lab, or in any environment, with high-fidelity, true-to-life XR patients” accelerates students’ “readiness and preparedness for the clinic.”
Citing a systematic review of studies on the use of virtual, augmented and mixed reality that found it 93% effective as a primary or supplementary teaching tool, Cohen noted that the goal for creating the training suite wasn’t just to speed up skill development, but also to empower instructors “to provide training that results in more efficient and safer patient care that ultimately would lead to improved patient outcomes.”
The training is delivered through an immersive learning platform developed by GigXR and will be accessible on Microsoft’s HoloLens and iOS and Android devices. Instructors will be able to launch lessons, use one-tap QR codes for student logins and repurpose lesson plans with in-lesson notes or comments.
The training suite is scheduled for release by mid-2022.