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15 Reasons to opt for MedVR Education VR Simulations

Healthcare training requires a good deal of hands-on practice to gain experience, build confidence and improve muscle memory. Practicing in realistic environments is essential to get accustomed to real-world situations and simulations prove to be the cornerstone of clinical training. Till not very long ago, training with moulages had been the preferred method but now we can witness a change. Training in virtual environments is gradually gaining ground. MedVR Education was set up with the objective to provide quality training opportunities in the form of VR simulations for healthcare professionals.

Why opt for MedVR Education VR Simulations Training

It has now been widely accepted that VR simulation training is highly effective and holds multiple benefits for both learners and trainers. At the same time, it is important to note that not all simulations fulfill this purpose effectively. MedVR Education is building the largest healthcare simulation library covering a wide range of categories. Opting for simulations by MedVR Education offers unparalleled benefits on multiple fronts.

1. Largest healthcare simulation library: In a mere span of three years, MedVR Education has developed the largest healthcare simulation XR library. Its app library is host to a range of simulations with 200 plus procedures, and this is growing dynamically.

2. Range of categories: A quick glance at the MedVR Education clinical simulations will reveal the wide range of categories it caters to. These categories are collection of skills required in essential care, emergency care, perinatal care, pediatric care, critical care, mental health, etc.

3. AI-enabled patients/characters: With MedVR Education integrating AI into its simulations, users can now hold realistic interactions with virtual characters. It’s taking simulation training to the next level where learners can practice their conversation skills, a skill much required when the need is to interact with patients and co-workers on a regular basis, in varied circumstances.

Practicing intramuscular injection procedure in VR.

4. RCDP: Rapid Cycle Deliberate Practice (RCDP) is characterized by its focus on deliberate practice, immediate feedback, and rapid cycle iteration. The concept of deliberate practice can be attributed to Dr. K Anders Ericsson and his extensive study of expertise which states that mastery in a skill is not just the result of innate talent, but a consistent and deliberate time spent in training and preparation. RCDP is particularly effective when used in conjunction with virtual reality (VR) simulation training. In VR simulation training, healthcare providers can practice clinical scenarios in a safe and controlled environment, which allows for the rapid cycle iteration and immediate feedback necessary for effective RCDP.

5. Multiplayer: All MedVR Education VR simulations are available in multiplayer mode. This enables participants, both learners and trainers, to join on a common virtual platform from anywhere in world at the same given time and perform as a team. This not only allows the sharing of experiences and knowledge but also helps promote teamwork.

Team of users performing intubation in VR.

6. In-VR Customization: The various customization options available help create unique simulations that are specific to user requirements. Some of the features that can be customized include the patient, the environment, the placement of equipment, configuration of patient vitals, simulation duration, session-end debriefing to name a few.

7. Clinical procedures with training and assessment: MedVR Education offers VR simulations in the form of procedures and open scenarios. Procedures consist of training and assessment modes where learners are first handheld through the procedure with detailed instructions. In the assessment mode, no help is provided, and learners are expected to complete the procedure individually, as they would in a real-world situation.

8. Open scenarios: Open scenarios place learners in realistic situations with a virtual patient. This could be in a healthcare facility set up, an ambulance or at an emergency location. Learners are expected to perform activities like performing a diagnosis and deciding upon the best course of action to be taken. The following debriefing presents an analysis of the learners’ performance and helps point out areas that need improvement.

Know more about MedVR Education’s open scenarios – VR Open Scenario Assessments for Healthcare Training

9. Data Analytics: This is an effective way to analyze a user’s performance; the tasks that the user performs correctly as well as the ones that were missed or performed incorrectly. Session-end debriefing helps learners identify their own strengths and weaknesses, the tasks they need to pay special attention to in order to perform skillfully without any mistakes. Being a virtual environment, learners perform in a safe, controlled and zero-risk environment and an error made here serves more of as a learning with no consequences.

10. Photorealistic: All aspects of MedVR Education’s simulation scenarios are created with reference to the real-world. This could be the environment of a healthcare setup, or the equipment used. Each virtual patient is also carefully and minutely created to help learners closely associate with their ‘patients’. The inclusion of AI-enabled characters has added to this realism as users are now able to interact with ‘patients’.

Scenario set up towards managing a case of pediatric SVT.

11. Unique patient cases: Every patient case in the MedVR Education library is a unique one created in close consultation with qualified and experienced healthcare professionals. The team of subject matter experts (SMEs) includes professionals from different aspects of the healthcare domain, each one bringing with them years of experience and knowledge. This helps create cases which are not only unique but will also be precisely accurate.

12. AI-Humans: This artificial intelligence-based platform empowers virtual humans to interact, act and react like real humans. With technologies like large language model (LLM), natural language processing, machine learning, deep data analysis, and speech recognition, these virtual humans exhibit unparalleled intelligence and accuracy. This platform gives trainers the freedom to create AI-empowered patient scenarios from scratch. It requires no coding knowledge, can be put together within a couple of hours and can be uploaded to any LMS and accessed from a web browser from any location. It is not only highly cost effective but also saves a considerable amount of time.

13. Physics-based interactions: VR simulations are created to mimic real-world environments. This also includes the way in which we interact with objects. Keeping this in mind, all interactions in MedVR Ed simulations are physics-based. Every procedure or scenario requires the user to handle and make use of multiple objects. It could include actions like grasping, lifting, unpacking material, attaching objects, pulling, pushing, and more such actions. With a physics-based approach, these actions in the virtual world replicate the action and effect similar to that in the real-world, thereby enhancing experience and engagement.

14. Remote delivery and OTA: With an internet connection and a VR headset, all it takes to access a MedVR Ed solution is a login id and password. All solutions are delivered to the user headset remotely and require minimal technical knowledge on the part of the user. This overrides the process of side loading, system setup, configurations and installation with the technical team completing the entire installation process at the backend. When new updates are made to solutions, existing users’ experiences are taken care of, and all updates are delivered over the air automatically. All that users are required to do is allow the update to be completed before beginning a session.

15. 24/7 tech support: MedVR Ed’s responsibility to ensure a smooth and hassle-free experience does not end with a delivery. In fact, it starts from here. A 24X7 tech support is available to address the slightest issues faced by users at any given point of time. Users can reach out over a mail or call tech support for prompt resolutions.

While MedVR Education offers a range of off-the-shelf solutions it also understands that each organization can have its own specific requirements. To meet this goal customized solutions are also created in close consultation with the specific organization and its experts.

Quelle:

15 Reasons to opt for MedVR Education VR Simulations

18. August 2023 0 comment

Examples

Reimagining nursing education

Cynthia Bradley awarded $1.3 million American Nurses Foundation grant to pilot immersive virtual reality, structured clinical preceptorship

What more can be done to better prepare nursing students for practice?

Are there strategies a nursing school can implement to reduce the time their graduates need to onboard in the workplace? Can adding experiences in nursing curricula prevent burnout and turnover in nursing?

These are some of the questions Assistant Professor Cynthia Bradley, PhD, RN, CNE, CHSE, wrestles with as director of simulation at the School of Nursing. She’s hoping a three-year pilot that uses immersive virtual reality (VR) simulation coordinated with a structured clinical preceptorship and reflective debriefing will provide some of the answers.

Bradley is leading the Big 10 Practice-Ready Nursing Initiative, a partnership with the University of Michigan School of Nursing and Purdue University School of Nursing. Bradley was awarded a $1.3 million grant from the American Nurses Foundation Reimagining Nursing Initiative. The project was one of 10 bold ideas, selected from more than 350 nurse-led projects under consideration to transform the education, regulation and practice of nursing.

“As a caseload of patients increases, how do students learn how to prioritize care? How do they know what to do first and with which patient? We believe that in the virtual environment the student will be able to practice and master those skills, starting with one or two patients and working their way up to a caseload of five.”- Assistant Professor Cynthia Bradley

The research team is collaborating with Oxford Medical Simulation, a global leader in the VR industry, to develop five learning modules that will be used with an Oculus headset. Two modules have already been developed with three additional modules to be added in the spring.

Better preparing nursing students for the workforce

A key component the researchers hope VR will add to nursing education is better preparation for students in caring for multiple patients, which more realistically represents current nursing practice. Two patients are typically the most a student nurse will care for during their education, yet early in their professional careers nurses are expected to care for a full caseload of patients. Adding more patients for students in their clinical experiences is not always feasible. Moreover, challenges with adequate space, expensive manikins and availability of standardized patients makes it nearly impossible to do multiple patient scenarios in simulation centers, which are already stretched to capacity.

“As a caseload of patients increases, how do students learn how to prioritize care? How do they know what to do first and with which patient?” asks Bradley. “We believe that in the virtual environment the student will be able to practice and master those skills, starting with one or two patients and increasing to a caseload of five. They’ll have more time to practice in a safe space without risking patient safety, while also gaining confidence and competence. Most importantly, they’ll be able to practice decision-making skills.”

To evaluate effectiveness of the pilot, the team will use a clinical competency tool to assess how students navigate the virtual environment as well as in the clinical environment at several time points during the first two years of the study. Bradley is recruiting two additional Big 10 schools to test if the VR learning process can be replicated in other nursing programs during the third year of the project.

Expanding access to quality simulation

Throughout her career, Bradley has consulted with nursing schools on the use of simulation. In that time she has seen many programs that have the funding to buy manikins but not funding for training faculty to integrate manikin use into curricula or the training necessary to properly facilitate simulation debriefings.

“Simulation is a pedagogy that you have to understand, not to mention learning the art of leading a reflective debriefing, to give students active learning experiences that ultimately better prepare them to provide high quality patient care,” says Bradley. “It takes time and money to do this well, and faculty are already overburdened. One of the aims of this project is
to do a cost analysis of VR simulation compared to traditional simulation.”

The Big 10 Practice-Ready Nursing Initiative aims to develop a process that can be shared with others to improve clinical education, while also providing greater access and availability that may cost less than traditional simulation. Bradley hopes the toolkit can help nurse educators facilitate the highest quality learning experiences for nursing students in rural areas who may not have access to simulation centers.

“With a headset and an internet connection, students anywhere can have the same learning experiences as students in our program,” adds Bradley.

Quelle:

Foto: ^{BSN student Maura Talwalkar practices using an Oculus headset and controllers.}

https://nursing.umn.edu/news-events/reimagining-nursing-education

4. Januar 2023 0 comment

Examples

MediView and GE Healthcare partner to bring AR solutions to medical imaging

GE Healthcare, a global medical technology, pharmaceutical diagnostics and digital solutions innovator, and MediView XR, Inc., a clinical augmented reality (AR) med-tech company, have recently announced a collaboration to integrate medical imaging into mixed reality (MR) solutions through the development of the OmnifyXR Interventional Suite System.

MediView’s current technology platform leverages spatial computing and mixed reality, united with medical imaging in combining AR visualization, remote collaboration and evidence-based clinical insights.

The collaboration between the two organizations brings together MediView’s expertise in 3D AR medical visualization, surgical navigation, telecollaboration capabilities and procedural data insights to enhance and simplify clinical decision making, along with GE Healthcare’s interventional imaging technologies, digital infrastructure, data analytics, and clinical decision support capabilities.

As a result, the OmnifyXR solution that the two companies have developed provides a heads-up AR display of interventional x-ray imaging systems using Microsoft’s latest HoloLens technology. The solution integrates multiple holographic displays of live imaging to help improve ergonomics regardless of working position and features 3D volume for improved anatomy visualization to help clinicians better assess complex anatomies and inform clinical decision making. The solution also features remote collaboration, enabling clinicians to partner from a distance, train, proctor and facilitate collaborative care.

“We are thrilled to advance our strategic collaboration with GE Healthcare by co-developing and creating the interventional suite of the future – one that is designed to improve ergonomics, with natural interactions for optimized workflow and facilitates care team collaboration,” said Mina Fahim, President and CEO of MediView. “Utilizing GE Healthcare’s exceptional imaging and MediView’s expertise in real-time augmented reality visualization and navigation, we’re proud to together launch one of the largest deployments of augmented reality in healthcare to-date and grow clinical adoption of innovative extended reality solutions.”

Also commenting on the partnership was Arnaud Marie, General Manager for Global Interventional at GE Healthcare, who said: “Augmented reality in imaging is key to improved visualization of anatomy and enhanced user experience. Our collaboration with MediView demonstrates our commitment to advancing the delivery of precision care by expanding the capabilities of our own imaging guided systems through an open architecture and the integration of promising and complementary technologies, like OmnifyXR Interventional Suite, into clinical workflow.”

GE Healthcare and MediView stated that they will co-market the solution and will explore opportunities for joint go-to-market efforts, with an initial market launch in the US and global expansion planned for the future.

To find out more about MediView and its XR solutions for the medical industry, please visit the company’s website.

Quelle:

https://www.auganix.org/mediview-and-ge-healthcare-partner-to-bring-ar-solutions-to-medical-imaging/

Image credit: MediView / GE Healthcare

5. Dezember 2022 0 comment

Examples

Boston startup aims to become ‘hospital of the metaverse’

Virtual physical therapy? Sounds like an oxymoron.

But it’s for real, and Eran Orr of XRHealth is on a mission to make it a more common treatment option in health care.

When Orr founded the Boston-based startup, he had a vision for better physical therapy. The former Israeli Air Force pilot was suffering from whiplash, and he dreamt of a data-driven, flexible treatment option that would work better for his needs.

So, in 2016, Orr made the leap and launched XRHealth, in hopes of offering physical therapy to patients through “extended reality,” which includes augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality.

It works like this: People in need of certain types of physical or recovery therapy — those with chronic pain, autism spectrum disorder, or Parkinson’s disease, for example — can meet with XRHealth’s team of clinicians virtually for a one-hour screening session. After determining a diagnosis and treatment plan, XRHealth ships a virtual reality headset (made by HTC Vive) programmed with various applications, developed by XRHealth, to the patient.

But what makes physical therapy in virtual reality better than standard treatment options? According to Stephanie Quigley, who used XRHealth to treat a back injury in 2020, the convenience of being home was a selling point.

“I don’t think I ever would have gone to a physical therapist as often as I saw this physical therapist because it was virtual,” Quigley said. “I did two sessions a week for a while. And I don’t think I would have gotten in my car, driven somewhere, done the program, and come home twice a week. It was so convenient to just be in my home, turn on the camera, and go.”

Quigley is one of about 5,000 patients who have used XRHealth so far. Each VR program is tailored based on the needs of the patient. Someone with chronic shoulder pain might use the “balloon popping” program — think Fruit Ninja, but your arms do the slicing — where users move their arms in ways that can be customized by the clinician. Someone recovering from post-traumatic stress might find the deep-sea meditation application helpful — it prompts meditation while you’re underwater, surrounded by virtual fish, in an effort to calm the user.

One of the XRHealth headsets, provided by VIVE, programmed with physical therapy applications for patients to use.XRHEALTH

The programs developed by XRHealth are monitored by clinicians when patients are undergoing therapy. Some clinicians opt to watch the patient through a video call as they play games, meditate, or use other apps.

It’s not for everyone, though. Some might need more rigorous or intense therapy options that require close, in-person monitoring. Others might be at risk of motion sickness or dizziness. Others may prefer to be physically present with their therapist. But patients who fit the bill say the benefits go beyond convenience.

“It just made it so fun,” Quigley said of the technology. “And then afterwards, I realized I felt actually a lot better.”

One of the challenges facing XRHealth is ensuring public trust. The company recently published a study that demonstrates that “virtual reality technology is viable in treating upper limb dysfunction in multiple sclerosis patients,” according to a release. The study observed 30 individuals using VR training solutions and found that “virtual reality training would be viable” for 26 of the 30 patients.

As virtual and augmented reality technologies expand, Orr thinks the use cases for health care will grow.

“I think we have the potential to become – let’s call it the hospital of the metaverse,” Orr said, referring to the virtual world. “What we’re trying to build is a platform that enables the clinician to treat the patient in the metaverse, but not just as a gimmick, but as a real modality of care.”

Quelle:

Foto: XRHealth provides virtual reality headsets to patients seeking physical therapy from home.XRHEALTH

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/09/29/business/boston-startup-aims-become-hospital-metaverse/

20. Oktober 2022 0 comment

Examples

VR in the OR: Virtual Reality Reduced Need for Sedation During Hand Surgery

Randomized Control Trial Shows VR Avoids Potential Harm of Over Sedation with No Decrease in Patient Satisfaction

BOSTON – With conditions such as carpal tunnel syndrome and osteoarthritis on the rise, U.S. hand surgeons perform more than half a million procedures each year. Patients undergoing hand surgery commonly receive a regional anesthetic to block pain prior to the procedure, plus monitored anesthesia care (MAC) during the operation. MAC typically consists of an IV-administered sedative — such as propofol — to keep patients feeling sleepy and calm during procedures but awake enough to follow instructions as needed. Too much sedation, however, can lead to low blood pressure, upper airway obstruction and potentially serious complications such as stroke, heart attack or respiratory failure.

In a novel attempt to reduce the risks of over sedation, physician-scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) conducted a randomized controlled trial to determine whether virtual reality immersion can minimize the need for sedatives during hand surgery without negatively impacting patient satisfaction. The team studied adults undergoing hand surgery who were randomized to receive either Virtual Reality (VR) immersion during the procedure in addition to usual MAC, or usual MAC alone. They found that VR immersion during hand surgery led to significant reductions in sedative doses as well as post-operative lengths of stay in the post anesthesia care unit (PACU). Their work is published in PLOS ONE.

“With the increase in the amount of time people spend at the keyboard combined with our aging population, there is a projected increased need for common elective hand surgeries,” said senior author Brian P. O’Gara, MD, MPH, an anesthesiologist in the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine at BIDMC. “Optimizing care for these patients will undoubtedly involve modification to anesthetic practices. Virtual reality’s purported benefit in the management of patients with pain or anxiety is through providing an immersive experience capable of distracting the mind from processing the unpleasantries associated with undergoing surgery.”

O’Gara and colleagues enrolled 34 adults who underwent hand surgery with regional anesthesia at BIDMC between December 2018 and August 2019. Patients who received VR wore headsets and noise-cancelling headphones, and selected the programming of their choice from several immersive 360-degree VR environments designed to promote relaxation and calmness, such as a meadow, forest or mountain top. For both groups, supplemental anesthetics and/or pain medications could be administered either upon patient request or at the discretion of the anesthesia provider according to their clinical judgement. No investigators were assigned to be the anesthesia provider of study participants in either group, nor were study team members present in the operating room to conduct any research activities for control group patients.

The scientists’ results revealed that patients in the VR group received significantly less propofol than those in the control group — a median of 260 mg less propofol per case than patients in the usual care group. Notably, only four of the 17 patients in the VR group received any propofol during their procedure, while every patient in the control group received the sedative. However, significantly more patients in the VR group received supplemental local anesthesia by the surgeon than in the control group, suggesting that the preoperative nerve block is very important to the success of the VR technique.

In follow-up questionnaires administered in the PACU after surgery, patients’ self-reported outcomes revealed no significant differences between the VR and control groups in overall satisfaction. Additionally, patients in both groups said their pain was well-controlled and that they felt relaxed during their surgery. There were also no significant differences between the groups’ PACU pain scores, peri-operative opioid doses. Strikingly, however, the VR group were discharged from the PACU after their surgery an average of 22 minutes earlier than their counterparts in the control group. At one month after surgery, there were no differences found between groups in their functional outcomes as it related to hand function.

“Our trial is novel in that it is the first to report a significant reduction in sedative dosing with VR immersion during hand surgery on adults,” said O’Gara, who is also an assistant professor in anesthesia at Harvard Medical School. “Using VR immersion, the potential harms of unnecessary sedation can be avoided without compromising patient comfort during hand surgery. Furthermore, we saw that VR group patients were discharged from the PACU 22 minutes earlier than control patients. A reduction in PACU stay could help optimize perioperative efficiency if the VR technique were used more widely.”

Co-authors included first and corresponding author Adeel A. Faruki of University of Colorado Hospital; Nadav Levy, Sam Proescel, Valerie Banner-Goodspeed and Tamara D. Rozental of BIDMC; Thy B. Nguyen of University of Colorado Medical School; Doris-Vanessa Gassangwa of St. George’s University School of Medicine; Jessica Yu of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine; Victoria Ip of Nova Southeastern School of Osteopathic Medicine; Marie McGourty of University of Massachusetts, Boston; Galina Korsunsky of Spectrum Healthcare Partners; Victor Novack of Soroka University Medical Center; and Ariel L. Mueller of Massachusetts General Hospital.

This work was funded by an American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Foundation for Anesthesia Education and Research Mentored Research Training Grant; XRHealth provided free access to software and hardware required for the trial; additional support for investigator time, research personnel and equipment were provided by the BIDMC Center for Anesthesia Research Excellence.

O’Gara is a consultant for Sedana Medical. Korsunsky has commercial affiliation with Spectrum Healthcare Partners as an employee. All other authors report no conflicts of interest.

Quelle:

https://www.bidmc.org/about-bidmc/news/2022/09/virtual-reality-reduced-need-for-sedation-during-hand-surgery

5. Oktober 2022 0 comment

Examples

Immersive Medical and Emergency Training Powered by 5G Saves Time, Resources

Rigorous training programs are essential to delivering fast and effective health care and emergency response, but traditional in-person simulations require significant investments in staff, equipment and travel. Immersive virtual training powered by 5G could revolutionize how medical and public safety personnel prepare for critical situations in the operating room and out in the field.

Immersive virtual technologies encompass both virtual reality and augmented reality. Via virtual reality, or VR, the user is entirely immersed in a virtual setting — for example, in a simulated emergency scenario. Augmented reality, or AR, overlays virtual elements in the user’s real-life environment. This could include overlaying an image on the operating table to aid during surgery.

Tailored Training for Health Care Professionals

„When you choose a physician, you may want somebody who’s done thousands of surgeries. But someone has to be the first patient,“ says Tony Dolezal, a 5G and Multi-Access Edge Computing, or MEC, specialist with the Public Sector Field Marketing group at Verizon Wireless. Through immersive training, a physician can virtually experience a procedure dozens of times before actually operating on that first patient.

A career in the medical field requires continuous learning. Health care delivery is constantly changing and health care workers must evolve alongside it. Even the most seasoned physician needs extensive practice using new techniques or devices before moving to direct patient care.

Traditionally, a medical device company might host a days long training at its own facilities, tying up busy health care workers. Using VR and AR, medical professionals can learn at their home facilities and continue to practice beyond the initial training sessions.

Surgeons can also use 5G-enabled VR/AR technology to create 3D versions of a patient’s unique anatomy and run through a procedure numerous times before even entering the operating room.

„They’re leveraging the bandwidth and low latency of 5G, and more efficient computing, to enable fully interactive virtual reality and augmented reality,“ Dolezal says. That low latency creates a smooth experience for users, resulting in high-quality training requiring fewer resources.

Approximately 100,000 deaths occur annually because of medical errors. By enabling physicians to engage in more frequent and highly tailored practice sessions, AR/VR immersive training could save lives.

Using VR/AR Technology to Prepare for Disaster

Outside of hospitals and operating rooms, more training enables better outcomes in the field. Previously, immersive emergency response training required hiring actors to play victims, a costly and complicated endeavor.

„When you’re looking at AR/VR training enabled by 5G, you have the ability to create a better-trained force at less expense,“ Dolezal says. „And of course, less expense in training means those resources can be used for additional officers or additional fire trucks.“

Basic training alone requires an average of 833 hours, according to state and local law enforcement academies. On top of that, officers and first responders have ongoing training needs throughout their careers. Traveling for in-person sessions means even more time away from the field.

„I can remember back when I was on the police force that if we had people who needed to go for retraining or certification, it really put a strain on us in the field,“ says Jason Mitchell, a senior manager with the Verizon Frontline Crisis Response team. „We were required to not only work longer hours, but we were also down on headcount, so we had a potential safety issue there as well.“

AR/VR immersive training offers myriad benefits, but the biggest challenge is the enormous amount of bandwidth and computing power it requires. MEC and 5G connectivity are critical to creating a superior experience. The combination of 5G and MEC allows for complex image processing without noticeable lags, making the training as close to true reality as possible.

„Being able to produce any training experience anywhere at a fraction of the cost results in more trained personnel,“ Dolezal says. „Not only in the number of personnel trained, but also in how well they’re trained.“

Quelle:

Foto: ISTOCK/IPOPBA

https://www.govexec.com/sponsors/2022/09/immersive-medical-and-emergency-training-powered-5g-saves-time-resources/376742/

16. September 2022 0 comment

Examples

Novarad announces strategic alliance with network of neurosurgical and spine distribution partners across the US

Novarad Corporation, a provider of healthcare technologies, has recently announced a strategic alliance with a network of well-established specialty neurosurgical and spine distribution partners within the US to help it distribute its augmented reality (AR) surgical navigation technology to physicians and hospitals accorss the country.

Novarad’s patented innovation transforms both surgeries and medical education by providing real-time viewing of anatomy and critical structures on the patient. VisAR, Novarad’s augmented reality surgical navigation technology, transforms a patient’s imaging data and superimposes it as a 3D hologram onto a patient, with sub-millimeter accuracy. Visible through an optical visor, these AR overlays allow surgeons to focus directly on their objectives without looking away to a separate monitor.

*VisAR overlaying a patient’s spine and pelvis onto the patient’s body.*

Novarad stated that VisAR’s size and scalability can benefit physicians and hospitals alike, and the system marks a step towards making surgical guidance widely available and economically feasible, as it helps to reduce the amount of costly impediments and timely setups that often force surgeons to work without navigation.

The initial network covers locations from the Eastern seaboard to Texas, with additional partners to be added throughout the entire US in the Q4 quarter of 2022. According to the company, the medical device distributors that it has partnered with bring widespread experience and a strong local presence to support the growth of Novarad’s new VisAR and OpenSight product lines.

The regional specialty distributors that comprise this network have brought unique solutions and cutting-edge technologies to neurosurgical and spine markets for more than 30 years,” said Jim Bazzinotti, President, US Neurosurgical.

Dr. Wendell Gibby, Novarad’s founder and CEO, commented: “this is transformational technology that provides the precision of a robot, the portability of a stethoscope and the versatility of human powered intelligence.” Dr. Gibby, addressing the significance of VisAR, added: “Like a surgical GPS, VisAR provides a roadmap to guide the surgeon to the pathology of interest.”

To learn more about Novarad’s distribution network and its VisAR surgical guidance system, please visit the company’s website.

Quelle:

https://www.auganix.org/novarad-announces-strategic-alliance-with-network-of-neurosurgical-and-spine-distribution-partners-across-the-us/

Image credit: Novarad

11. September 2022 0 comment

Examples

Rare Conjoined Twin Surgery Aided by VR Training, Bridging the Gap Between Two Continents

Practice makes perfect, especially when it comes to life-saving procedures that deal with extreme edge cases like separating conjoined twins. Now a UK-Brazilian team have done just that, which is thanks to detailed planning sessions which allowed the surgical team to model and rehearse the operation in VR from two different continents.

As reported by BBC News, three-year-olds Bernardo and Arthur Lima were born conjoined at the cranium, also know as craniopagus twins.

Now, after seven surgeries, the boys have effectively become the oldest craniopagus twins to have been separated, a process which concluded in a final surgery that lasted 27 hours and involved around 100 medical staff.

Bernardo and Arthur Lima before separation | Image courtesy PA, BBC News

The operation was carried out in Rio de Janeiro with direction from Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

The planning stage took place over a six-month period which, lead by UK surgeon Dr. Noor ul Owase Jeelani, incorporated models of the twins based on CT and MRI scans which were imported into a program that allowed the Brazilian and UK teams to collaborate in real-time via VR headsets.

“In some ways these operations are considered the hardest of our time, and to do it in virtual reality was just really man-on-Mars stuff,” said Dr. Jeelani.

Bernardo and Arthur Lima after separation | Image courtesy PA, BBC News

Gemini Untwined, the charity founded by Dr. Jeelani, dubbed it “one of the most complex separation processes ever completed.”

“It’s a near impossible task [separating craniopagus twins] that requires a lot of thinking, a lot of planning, and when the final execution happens and you end up with two live kids that are making a good recovery is a great experience.” Dr. Jeelani said in a BBC interview.

Arthur and Bernardo will be celebrating their 4th birthday next month, and are making what Dr. Jeelani says is “an excellent recovery.”

Quelle:

Rare Conjoined Twin Surgery Aided by VR Training, Bridging the Gap Between Two Continents

9. August 2022 0 comment

Examples

Hologram Patients Allow Doctors To Train Anytime, Anywhere

Elegant training for a more civilized age.

It’s no secret that medical training is an expensive and time-consuming process. Thanks to immersive technology, however, healthcare centers around the world are capable of training doctors, therapists, and surgeons at a faster rate while spending less.

GigXR is one such company using cutting-edge immersive technology to train the next generation of medical professionals with its Gig Immersive Learning Platform. Powered by mixed reality devices like the Microsoft HoloLens 2, the platform uses mixed reality technology to project interactive hologram patients over the real world, offering students a way to hone their skills at home or in the simulation lab.

“Mixed reality is increasingly recognized as a useful method of simulator training. As institutions scale procurement, the demand for platforms that offer utility and ease of mixed reality learning management is rapidly expanding,” said Arun Gupta, Director of Postgraduate Education, Cambridge University Health Partnership.

“GigXR has already enabled instructors to better prepare learners with medically accurate simulation for observation and assessment. With HoloScenarios, we’re helping to evolve education from a mentorship-based model to one where students around the world can have equal access to top-flight expertise for mastering invention-based clinical skills.”

Available now for purchase, Gig XR’s HoloScenarios was developed in partnership with the University of Cambridge and Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) NHS Foundation Trust. The first set of conditions focuses on respiratory conditions, including asthma, anaphylaxis, pulmonary embolism, and pneumonia scenarios.

Users assist holographic patients throughout the entirety of their healthcare journey, from diagnosis to appropriate intervention and everything in between.

Their performance is monitored by the platform in real-time, offering instant feedback. Instructors can also adjust the settings and update the difficulty for each and every scenario.

“Mixed reality is an excellent way to train. It’s incredibly intuitive. We’ve put customers in apps like HoloScenarios and they ‘just go’ – the experience is instinctual because you simply use your hands and the holograms superimpose over the real world in a way where they look like the real devices, patients or anatomical structures,” said Jared Mermey, CEO at GigXR.

“So our goal is simple: make it easier to create, deliver, and implement more high-quality mixed reality across the spectrum of healthcare teaching and training.”

As previously mentioned, GigXR’s HoloScenarios currently features several respiratory conditions with implementation scheduled for this Fall. According to the company, Advanced Cardiac Life Support and Neurology modules will be available later this year. For more information visit here.

Quelle:

Hologram Patients Allow Doctors To Train Anytime, Anywhere

Image Credit: GigXR

11. Juli 2022 0 comment

Examples

Hologram Patients Allow Doctors To Train Anytime, Anywhere

Elegant training for a more civilized age.

Users assist holographic patients throughout the entirety of their healthcare journey, from diagnosis to appropriate intervention and everything in between.

Their performance is monitored by the platform in real-time, offering instant feedback. Instructors can also adjust the settings and update the difficulty for each and every scenario.

“So our goal is simple: make it easier to create, deliver, and implement more high-quality mixed reality across the spectrum of healthcare teaching and training.”

Quelle:

Hologram Patients Allow Doctors To Train Anytime, Anywhere

Image Credit: GigXR

4. Juli 2022 0 comment