During this pandemic, medical students are struggling to get access to clinical environments for hands-on experience, and global travel restrictions are hampering the ability of medical device manufacturers to train and certify their staff on essential medical equipment. Patients are also bearing the burden during this time, as many are unable to gain access to care. The rapid adoption of telehealth during COVID-19 demonstrates how this technology can be used to overcome barriers to access, allowing students and patients to get the training and care they need. Patients have been turning to telehealth visits so often that it is expected that a massive one billion visits will take place before the end of the year.

Advancing technology and patient care

There is a lot of new tech making these visits possible, but some of the most exciting ones are head-mounted displays and smart glasses. These compact devices are equipped with a small display in front of one or both eyes and several can be worn like standard eyeglasses. Many have see-through displays that seamlessly provide critical information within the user’s vision without limiting the view, sometimes referred to as “mixed reality.” Head-mounted displays and smart glasses both capture information from the environment through cameras, thermal or GPS sensors, microphones, and from internal sources such as connected devices or computers. Wireless technologies, like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, LTE or 5G, and GPS, support the utilization of a variety of mobile applications and online platforms, making it possible to incorporate specialized applications to adapt the technology to different medical specialties’ needs.

The problem with Google Glass

One of the first smart glasses to cause a stir was Google Glass in 2012. Targeted for wide adoption, this innovative technology did not fare well after its initial release. The marketing strategy for Google Glass, while creating quite a stir in the media, was also one of the major reasons for its downfall. Google Glass was not seeking to solve a problem so much as be the latest and greatest piece of tech. Without a planned, targeted market though, many people just did not see the use in daily life. No clear argument for the technology’s use was ever presented by Google, and a product without any use or understandable value is a product without a market.

The built-in cameras became a cause for privacy concerns. Many were afraid that Google Glass made it possible for the wearer to surreptitiously record their surroundings; others worried that Google would sell the data it was collecting from wearers. Despite the fanfare and attention that Google Glass gained, it just as quickly faded away.

Today’s wearable headsets are purpose-driven

While smart glasses never gained popularity with the general public, they are quickly finding their place in medicine. With the rapidly expanding demand for virtual care, head-mounted displays and smart glasses are finally finding their niche. These devices are adapting to the needs of medical care and providing HIPAA compliant technology solutions.

Head-mounted displays and smart glasses today are focusing on data security and clinical usefulness. Providers can now live stream surgeries and patient visits, enhancing healthcare professional training and continuity of care for patients. Increasingly, physicians and students are using these technologies to collaborate with colleagues outside of their exam or operating room.

One study of medical students and surgical residents explored whether head-mounted displays could improve surgical training. While performing surgery, students wearing head-mounted displays were able to view instructions from a remote specialist, or telementor, as a real-time, 3D overlay directly in their field of view of the patient’s body. The remote mentor used touch-based interactions to create technical annotations that were superimposed on the student’s view of the operative field, giving the students real-time feedback and instruction without distraction. The study showed that students who utilized the head-mounted display were able to perform operations faster, with better technique, and fewer errors.

These hands-free devices use voice commands and speech recognition, enabling physicians to focus on the patient without disrupting the examination or medical procedure. Newer versions also have a less obtrusive appearance, allowing for more natural interactions with patients and adding to providers’ and patients’ willingness to use the devices.

Overcoming barriers to adoption and patient acceptance

As with all new technologies, wearable devices still have some challenges to overcome before they are widely accepted. Privacy is a major concern in medicine, so all platforms must be built in a GDPR and HIPAA compliant manner. The battery life of the device is also important. Taking a break in the middle of surgery to swap out smart glasses is far from ideal and could pose health risks for patients. As with all wearable products, comfort should also be considered. If providers are going to wear these headsets for hours on end, they must be seamlessly integrated and unobtrusive.

System integration is also vital for the adoption of these new wearable devices. To facilitate widespread use, it is essential that these devices be flexible enough to integrate with numerous software and backend systems. Each hospital will have its own unique environment and the technology needs to be able to scale along with user needs. If the software is out-of-date in a matter of years, it is not a good investment for medical institutions and prevents the devices from improving alongside applications.

New options designed with Healthcare in mind

For device adoption to be successful in healthcare, the functionality must enhance clinical effectiveness, improve peer-to-peer collaboration, increase medical knowledge and education, and provide easy and timely access to information – all without interrupting their day-to-day clinical routine and interaction with the patient. Hippo™ Technologies is working to overcome these barriers to acceptance by meeting the needs of providers and care systems.

Hippo’s Virtual Care platform works with hands-free, voice-activated, head-worn tablets to help deliver expert care, optimize safety, and increase efficiency. The plug-and-play design allows for quick deployment and the voice-activated technology was built with busy medical and emergency environments in mind, allowing the device to be accurate even in busy emergency departments. The Hippo Virtual Care platform comes with military grade security features including HIPAA, GDPR, and the most advanced encryption technology, and can also seamlessly integrate with any hospital system or connected device. It is Wi-Fi and Bluetooth enabled and also has 5G capabilities built in.

Designed with the future in mind, Hippo’s platform was built on an open API allowing third-party integration into the system. Additionally, the platform is device agnostic, allowing it to be integrated with other wearables and IoT devices.

Today, wearable devices and platforms such as these are helping healthcare workers to optimize safety, increase productivity, and provide care and training to patients and students around the globe.

Read our White Paper on Head-mounted Displays & Smart Glasses in Healthcare

The post Out with the Old and In with the New: How advances in Head-Mounted Displays and Smart Glasses Are Positively Impacting Healthcare appeared first on Hippo Virtual Health Solutions.

From cardiology to cancer, many of today’s advanced medical devices require precision training before they can be utilized in a patient setting. In oncology, for example, radiologists commonly use linear accelerator machines (LINAC) to deliver external beam radiation to a precise area with minimal exposure to surrounding tissue. Typically, clinicians receive a minimum of eight weeks of training to learn the basics, followed by three months of hands-on learning with ongoing skills assessments. Each trainee must achieve a high degree of precision before moving to patient care.

This intensive training can be a huge cost barrier and is effectively impossible to complete in-person amidst a global pandemic. Hippo’s Virtual Training™ platform can overcome these barriers, with a hands-free, voice-activated, head-mounted tablet effectively bringing the teacher to the student and allowing you to “see through the eyes of the trainer.” The easy to use headset has an intuitive interface with voice-activated technology, high resolution camera and videoconferencing capability built in, making it simple to learn and seamlessly implement into medical training programs.

Immersive, participatory educational experiences at lower cost

The importance of proper training to master medical devices such as LINAC becomes increasingly important as medical technology continues to advance. It would not be possible to obtain the expertise needed over the phone or using a regular tablet. Hippo’s immersive experience prepares students to become experts and is as effective as in-person training.

Using Hippo’s head-mounted device, skilled clinicians or technicians can deliver training to people around the world from a single location. The head-worn tablet’s high-quality camera allows trainees to videoconference in and see from the expert’s point of view as if they were in the room with them. Similarly, trainees can be guided remotely through hands-on sessions, with the trainer providing instructions through Hippo’s two-way videoconferencing platform. Sessions can be recorded and accessed at scale.

Travel and housing costs to train on some of the more advanced medical devices are often prohibitively expensive for many smaller programs. This prevents students from obtaining valuable training and leaves many clinicians without access to expert guidance. Hippo’s Virtual Training platform overcomes these barriers and connects students and clinicians with experts around the globe, without the excess cost (and risk) of travel.

Real-time guidance and mentoring

Many of the medical devices in use today are complex, and clinicians often face medical situations that were not covered in their training at medical school. Hippo’s Virtual Training platform offers continued access for ongoing mentoring and skills accreditation. When faced with a particularly challenging case, the clinician can wear the headset, giving their mentor a first-hand view of the patient and allowing the mentor to walk the clinician through the procedure or device settings or troubleshoot technical problems in real time.

Microwave ablation is becoming an increasingly popular treatment option for cardiac and oncology care. The use of this technology is quickly expanding to a variety of treatment settings, from open surgery to laparoscopic procedures. Hippo’s Virtual Training platform helps physicians keep up to date on the latest developments and even share their techniques with colleagues and students around the country.

Additionally, Hippo’s platform gives professionals the chance to become proficient in rare surgeries and procedures so they can bring those skills into their clinic. Spinal surgery is perhaps one of the most complex repairs. It can involve a range of medical devices to align, repair, and stabilize the spine. With Hippo’s Virtual Training platform, these and other rare surgeries can be learned from an optimal viewpoint, giving experienced surgeons the knowledge they need to incorporate innovative technologies through the real-time guidance of mentors, no matter their location.  

Increasingly, clinicians are working across therapeutic specialties to provide integrative care. Many providers may need a refresher course on how to use a medical device from another specialty that they do not regularly encounter. Similarly, new medical staff may need training on unfamiliar technologies, such as remote monitoring devices. Setting up new training sessions can be an expensive undertaking. Hippo’s platform allows medical schools, hospitals and device manufacturers to provide regular training sessions to their students and staff easily and efficiently, whether they are refresher courses or getting new trainees up to speed.

Ongoing training and competency assessments

New technologies are entering the medical field at an ever-increasing rate. Even existing devices continue to advance, adding new features and functionality to provide better patient care. In order to keep up, providers need access to ongoing education and training. State-of-the-art care facilities are continuously evaluating and augmenting their staff’s skills. With virtual training enabled by Hippo, supervised assessments and continuing medical education can take place even during a global pandemic.

Hippo’s Virtual Training platform is effortlessly scalable and built to integrate with third-party applications, making it future-proof and allowing your team to benefit for years to come. With Hippo, you can continue to advance the practice of medicine, no matter the distance.

For further information on Hippo’s Virtual Training™ solutions, visit myhippo.com.au or contact us at hello@myhippo.com.au

The post Hippo Helps Bridge the Gap for Medical Device Training During COVID-19 appeared first on Hippo Virtual Health Solutions.

Emergencies are often chaotic, and physicians are rarely the first ones on the scene. Instead, EMTs (Emergency Medical Technicians) paramedics, firefighters, police, and other first responders must be ready to help patients who may need care beyond their medical skills. Using Hippo’s platform, first responders can connect with physicians in the Emergency Room before an ambulance even arrives. The virtual care headset allows a physician to remotely assess patients from the point of view of the first responder on the scene – enabling more rapid and accurate diagnosis and treatment.

Hippo’s head-worn tablet comes with a micro-display that emulates the look of a 7-inch tablet screen. The voice activation technology and advanced noise-canceling allow first responders to use the system hands-free and navigate different applications. The image stabilizing camera gives medical experts a first-hand view of the field, enabling them to deliver care remotely.

The virtual care headset is 5G enabled, providing high-quality video streaming in real time. “It’s an important step forward because not only can you learn how the patient is when explained over the phone, but you can actually see with your own eyes,” said Luís Rentar, a pediatrician who has been trialing the system in the city of Sabadell, near Barcelona. Additionally, the platform is Bluetooth enabled, allowing it to be seamlessly integrated into hospital systems.

Faster Triage and Smarter Clinical Decisions

The Hippo Virtual Care platform uses voice commands, keeping first responders’ hands free to assist the patient while sharing and receiving visual and audio directions from a physician. This wealth of transmitted information helps medical providers triage and diagnose patients before the ambulance has even arrived at the medical bay, allowing for faster and more informed emergency care.

Hippo’s system also allows physicians to advise first responders in the field. By giving them a first-hand view of the trauma scene, Hippo’s platform enables physicians to provide the on-site responder with life-saving medical instructions for patients who require immediate care.

Knowing what patients require before they even reach the ambulance bay also enables the hospital to prepare for a critically ill patient’s arrival. By seeing the patient and assessing their wounds and medical state, the treatment center can not only prioritize a patient’s needs, they can also set up the treatment center so everything they need is ready before the patient even arrives.

Saving Lives Today

The hands-free device keeps EMS safe and focused during critical tasks, all while receiving and transmitting vital information to a physician. The Hippo Virtual Care platform is currently being used in Norway by EMTs to provide life-saving care in emergency situations. Medical staff in ICUs are also taking advantage of this state-of-the-art technology to treat COVID-19 patients quickly and safely.

A first responder in Norway had this to say about using the innovative technology: “Hippo enables me to communicate quickly and effectively with colleagues back in the ER. It’s reassuring to have an extra set of eyes on what I’m seeing and doing.”

Hippo’s platform is easy to use and comes with plug and play installation and remote setup, allowing for quick and easy training. Often, first responders do not know what kind of situation they are walking into when they get a call, and have to be prepared to operate in harsh environments. Hippo’s platform was built to keep up with these demands. The headset is dust and water resistant and can survive a 2-meter drop onto concrete. The rechargeable batteries provide continuous 12-hour use, allowing the headset to accommodate long hours in the field.

At Hippo, we stand behind first responders. Our mission is to serve patients and those who care for them by leading the transformation to virtual care for providers and educators. Our team is helping to expand access to clinical expertise and technologies to improve the quality and safety of healthcare, globally.

The post Next-Generation Support for First Responders in the Field appeared first on Hippo Virtual Health Solutions.

Saving hospitals and medical schools time and money

Despite current restrictions, medical training must still take place, even during a pandemic. Hippo enables professors and clinical faculty to easily connect with medical students across the country to ensure their education continues. By using Hippo in virtual training, medical students can still gain first-hand patient experience and even have the chance to see patient care settings that otherwise would be inaccessible to them. With Hippo, morning sessions can start in a busy inner city ER, and students can end the afternoon observing a small, underserved rural community hospital – allowing future physicians to get a well-rounded education, despite never setting foot in the training hospital.

Hippo’s platform also facilitates virtual training on medical equipment. Students can get eye to eye with an expert’s point of view and see exactly how to operate the equipment in a clinical setting. This virtual learning option provides a more equitable education for students even if they do not have in-person access to expensive, highly sensitive equipment such as robotics and imaging, while medical schools can save the significant cost of buying and maintaining the latest technology on premises.

Virtual education with Hippo also provides important cost and life-saving measures for patients and medical staff as hospitals can provide a world-class education to medical students without the use of extra PPE and putting students at unnecessary risk. By providing the option of distance learning, students can continue their education without the risk of spreading COVID-19.

Additionally, Hippo can be used to assess students through remote proctoring. This gives students the chance to get a feel for what practicing medicine will be like without someone looking over their shoulder while allowing teachers to assess their skills in real time. The ability to record procedures through Hippo’s “store-and-forward” function enables students and faculty to review and discuss clinical practice after the event, and keep an historical record of progress.

According to Susan Groenwald RN, PhD, President Emerita at Chamberlain University, one of the largest nursing schools in the country: “Providing quality clinical sites for nursing, medical and other healthcare students is challenging under any scenario, but is a significant challenge amidst COVID-19 restrictions.  With Hippo, students can see through the eyes of the clinician and experience procedures as if they are there. Conversely, remote faculty can oversee students interacting with and caring for patients while wearing the Hippo device.”

Increasing exposure to rare and complex cases

Traditional medical education involves following a physician on their patient rounds. This gives medical students the chance to hear first-hand from patients and observe the physician’s bedside manner. Having a group of people observing you in the hospital can be extremely uncomfortable for patients and may even increase a patient’s risk of exposure to COVID-19. With Hippo, medical students can still take part in this essential learning experience by taking virtual rounds remotely, without adding undue risk or discomfort to patients. Equipping an attending physician with the Hippo headset gives remote students the opportunity to virtually step into an experienced clinician’s shoes and gain a first-person vantage point that would not have otherwise been possible.

Often students are crowded together when observing patient care, which decreases the chances of having an optimal view of the procedure that is taking place. Hippo’s virtual education platform provides students with a superior experience, allowing them to see through the eyes of the surgeon or attending physician rather than crowding around hoping for a glance over a shoulder.

Virtual learning also gives medical students the opportunity to observe and study patients and physicians around the world. This broad exposure increases students’ chances of learning about rare disease states and gives them more opportunities to learn how to treat complex medical cases, while experiencing a variety of clinical settings at home and abroad.

“I immediately saw the application for using this technology to enhance the learning, practice and improvement of healthcare,” explains Thomas Matthew, MD, Director at Johns Hopkins Cardiothoracic Surgery Program at Suburban Hospital, where the Hippo Virtual Care platform is currently in use. “The ability to have audio/visual communication for teaching and proctoring with junior colleagues became crucial during COVID-19. The hands-free aspect is a real benefit – it allows us to practice medicine as we were trained. With Hippo, I can orient a patient or see a procedure as if I were physically in the exam room.”

Hippo is bridging the gap between physical and virtual care. Our team is committed to sharing knowledge without boundaries and expanding medical expertise and practice. To learn more about how Hippo can help your medical staff and students, click here.

The post THE FUTURE OF MEDICAL EDUCATION IS VIRTUALLY HERE appeared first on Hippo Virtual Health Solutions.