Google Glass deployed for ER use at UMMS

University of Massachusetts Medical School researchers are tapping Google Glass for emergency room consultations and sharing real-time treatment data with outside medical specialists.

The wearable computing device is proving to be a viable conduit for real-time data exchange in situations such as triage and ER diagnosis, according to an article at IEE Spectrum.

"As an emergency physician, you're really busy and you end up making decisions with your specialists very quickly," Peter Chai, a medical toxicologist and emergency medicine physician at UMMS, told the publication. "A lot of those times you're talking to your specialist over the phone, and they're just hearing verbal descriptions. Everybody wants to be there to see the patient."

The hospital has tested Glass for toxicology consults and Chai also has tested Glass at Rhode Island Hospital for dermatology evaluations. Other providers also are deploying Glass in ER environments. As FierceMobileHealthcare, reported Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center embraced Glass in an ER-focused pilot program. What's more, in February 2015 it was reported that a Chicago ambulance and telemedicine service provider dispensed Glass to paramedics to provide real-time two-way communications with physicians at hospitals.

When Glass initially debuted in healthcare, the focus was on using the headset to provide doctors with up-to-date patient data while administering care. But that approach presented a variety of hurdles, as the IEEE Spectrum article notes. That is why Chai and fellow researchers decided to employ Glass as a tool for data exchange.

Going forward UMMS intends to take Glass out into the treatment and emergency response field for use at disaster scenarios.

For more information:
- read the article at IEEE Spectrum

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