XBox Kinect in the OR: Kinect supports gesture interaction with 3D imaging of the patient, while operating.

Here's an interesting use of technology for health - the Xbox Kinect in the OR!

Thanks to Harry van der Veen for the link!


RELATED
Kinect sensor poised to leap into everyday life
Niall Firth, NewScientist, 1/17/13

For the tech-curious:
PrimeSense (Company that developed the 3D depth sensor that powers the Kinect, the sensor in Ava, a healthcare robot by iRobot, and more.)

OpenNI (Framework for the development of 3D sensing middleware libraries and applications.)

NiTE: Natural Interface Technology for End User (Perception algorithms layer for 3D computer vision, allows for hand locating, tracking, analyzing scenes, and tracking skeleton joints.)

Multimedia: Health Awareness Info and Rap about Sepsis

As some of my readers know, my perfectly healthy daughter was recently hospitalized with sepsis. For that reason, I've taken a temporary detour to gather information and data about sepsis. This summer, I'm considering working on a public awareness information visualization about this topic. 


The following video is a rap created to promote awareness about sepsis and the treatment of sepsis among health care providers. Although the first patient in the video is an elderly man, know that it can strike any age group.





I am happy to say that daughter is now doing well. She was treated relatively early, and unlike many others, she suffered no tissue or organ damage. She survived.


Some of the symptoms of sepsis include fever, hypothermia, a high heart rate (over 90 beats per minute), a fast respiratory rate, low/falling blood pressure, swelling, light headedness, etc. Skip urgent care if you have the signs of sepsis and go immediately to the E.R, tell them your symptoms, especially your blood pressure, heart rate, temp, and any type of infection you might have.  Say that you suspect you have sepsis. The sooner you get treatment, the better your chance of survival. 


More children die of sepsis than from cancer in the United States, and about 40% of all patients diagnosed with severe sepsis do not survive.*


RELATED
Sepsis Alliance
Surviving Sepsis Campaign
Global Sepsis Alliance
Surviving Sepsis: Going Beyond the Guidelines (pdf)

Digital Lighbox for Hospitals - The Multi-touch Future of Electronic Medical Records?

Is this what the future holds for electronic medical records?



I came across this on Richard Bank's blog, rb.trends. This multi-touch display is from BrainLAB AG, a company located in Germany. Here is a quote from Ubergizmo:

"Digital Lightbox replaces the conventional light box used to observe analog x-ray images. Connected to the hospital PACS, the new digital platform can be installed both in meeting rooms and in operating rooms, where clinicians can then access, manipulate, and utilize data for surgery planning. By displaying the human body in 3D, Digital Lightbox helps clinicians to more clearly demonstrate to patients what effects a disease can have and which procedures may be necessary. Digital Lightbox enables clinicians to select the most valuable images from large amounts of existing medical data. Ergonomic touchscreen technology with zoom functionality makes working with data easy and effective. Clinicians can intuitively navigate within pictures and between settings. Image scrolling can be performed with one finger; zooming in and out of images with two. Images from different sources can also be fused easily. A measure functionality enables clinicians to set size and other dimensions."

Something like this would be good for high school science classrooms.

Update:
For more photos of the Digital Ligthbox and the iPlan Net software that supports remote collaboration, visit the Future-Making Serious Games blog.

About: Ubiquitous Computing- Grandpa and grandkids use a webcam and Skype across the miles; "EMR: The Movie".

A close relative was recently in the hospital that offered free WiFi. The youngest grandchild, my niece, brought out her flute and played Grandpa a tune.



The instant access to the Internet made it possible to quickly look up medical information as the doctors spoke, which made it easier to ask informed questions later on.

To make the time go faster during the 9 hour wait in the emergency room, YouTube comedy clips from old Johnny Carson shows really helped. All of the laughing during an otherwise somber situation caused a bit of a stir among the medical staff, other patients, and their families.

Why not put a few Wi-Fi enabled displays around the emergency room?

A new hospital near Grand Rapids, Michigan, has taken this concept a step further. The hospital will be offer patients Internet access from wide-screen displays in their rooms:

"Each room is private, with windows, and offers a foldout couch for overnight guests, individual temperature and lighting adjustments and a 37-inch TV screen that can show any of 30 recently released movies. The video component also provides Internet access and a portal to view a person's electronically stored medical records, even results from tests taken just the day before."

UPDATE (3/29/09)
Information about the hospital, Metro Health:
"Just what the doctor ordered": Metro Health puts video over IP network to educate and entertain its patients

"Because the entertainment system is IP based, Optimal installers were able to connect it to the hospital’s HL7 network, a nationally accepted protocol that allows health systems to talk to each other. By connecting the IP network to the HL7, the system can access all patient records, entertainment, educational videos, even admissions information."

Coincidentally, I found this link in one of my "Google Alerts" messages about electronic medical records, titled "EMR: The Movie".

The author of the post discussed how EMR - Electronic Medical Records - have the potential of providing a snapshot of the patient's medical history. He went on to muse about how EMR should be depicted as a movie- which I think is a good idea.

At least the record system should use a combination of text, icons, video-clips, and interactive 3D medical imaging. Of course, this would have to be displayed on a touch screen display such as a NextWindow Human Touch or Microsoft Surface.....

How NOT to create an interactive touch-screen map!

I came across this interactive map that was situated in a kiosk along a skyway at a large, highly respected hospital.

If you are interested in designing usable and useful interactive wayfinding applications, avoid much of what you see in this videoclip!



This isn't an example of good user-centered design.