In just a couple years virtual reality holograms could become a real part of medical education, according to a Case Western Reserve University leader.
The Cleveland institution is experimenting with Microsoft’s HoloLens to see how it could be used in the classroom, Pamela Davis, M.D., Ph.D., dean of the medical school, tells MedCity News.
She says it’s “arguably the most exciting technology in medical education on the horizon today.”
The university currently is just testing out the tech, but will start to use it in practice once evaluations wrap up. Davis says she hopes by 2019--when the medical school moves to a new campus--students will be working with HoloLens.
The tool will expand medical education because it will allow students to examine a beating heart hologram or watch the process to insert a catheter from educators miles away, she says.
“It’s an incredible pedagogical tool that capitalizes on how millennials learn,” Davis adds. “It offers the best illustrations of what we want to teach and we can perfect those illustrations in three dimensions, perfect the movements of the heart and everything we want to show.”
Virtual reality is already having an impact on the industry; in April the first surgery was streamed online using the technology. People around the world were able to watch the Royal London Hospital-based operation using Google Cardboard VR glasses paired with the VRinOR app.
- here's the MedCity News article