While there are plenty of settings where wearable tech like Google Glass is rather inappropriate and can make you, well, look like a tool, it’s becoming more clear that one place it could find a home is in the medical community. Doctors with Glass? Makes sense. Last June, Google Glass was used during surgery for the first time ever, and since then more and more hospitals and medical schools and hospitals have been experimenting with the technology.
Now, one school is looking to make Google Glass an integral part of its curriculum.
UC Irvine School of Medicine has announced intentions to become the first med school in the country to fully integrate Google Glass into its four-year program–from anatomy course to rotations, UC Irvine wants to equip its students with the wearable tech.
“I believe digital technology will let us bring a more impactful and relevant clinical learning experience to our students,” said Dr. Ralph V. Clayman, dean of medicine. “Our use of Google Glass is in keeping with our pioneering efforts to enhance student education with digital technologies – such as our iPad-based iMedEd Initiative, point-of-care ultrasound training and medical simulation. Enabling our students to become adept at a variety of digital technologies fits perfectly into the ongoing evolution of healthcare into a more personalized, participatory, home-based and digitally driven endeavor.”
The benefits of basically having a hands-free computer on your face are obvious from the doctors’ point of view. Glass, pull up medical records on Jane Smith. Glass, record this procedure from my perspective so I can use it in instruction later. UC Irvine wants to use Google Glass in the OR, ED, ICU, anatomy labs, medical simulation center, ultrasound institute, and even in lecture halls. It appears that this will be a huge part of going to med school at UC Irvine.
But here’s something interesting–having clinical patient don the wearable tech for teaching purposes:
“The most promising part is having patients wear Glass so that our students can view themselves through the patients’ eyes, experience patient care from the patients’ perspective, and learn from that information to become more empathic and engaging physicians,” said Dr. Warren Wiechmann, assistant clinical professor of emergency medicine and associate dean of instructional technologies at the school.
In other Google Glass news, it’s now available to anyone and everyone in the U.S.–provided you have $1,500 burning a hole in your pocket.
Image via YouTube
