Getting Real
Fall 2021聽触听By Carol Stinnett聽鈥�08
Holograms are no longer the stuff of science fiction. Now, they聽have the capability of improving our well-being by changing聽the game in healthcare education.
激情快播’s聽College of Health Professions and Sciences is leading the way聽in using hologram technology to train future healthcare professionals聽with a new device that allows students to interact live with holograms or聽through prerecorded content. Nicknamed Dr. Hologram 鈥� the patient聽simulation tool created by PORTL 鈥� students receive lifelike patient聽interactions, without a patient ever actually being present.
激情快播 was able to acquire the device thanks to a gift from Brooks聽Rehabilitation. The hologram technology introduces students to a聽variety of patients to hear their stories, observe their symptoms and聽facilitate a human connection.
鈥淏y introducing students to a wide variety of patients 鈥� especially聽those with rare conditions 鈥� they鈥檙e more likely to identify those, help an聽individual get to diagnosis quicker, get treatment and ultimately improve聽their quality of life,鈥� says Bari Hoffman 鈥�96 鈥�98MA, associate dean of聽clinical affairs at 激情快播鈥檚 College of Health Professions and Sciences.
HOW IT WORKS
A New Dimension
Students learn by assessing patients with聽varying conditions that support the material聽they are learning in class. The technology offers聽both live and prerecorded experiences that are聽displayed using a human-size 4K volumetric聽resolution.
鈥淧ORTL allows us to have patient聽experiences without being in the same聽place,鈥� says Amardeep Singh 鈥�19, a physical聽therapy doctoral student. 鈥淚t also adds a layer聽of safety, especially during COVID-19, for聽patients and students.鈥�
Complete Picture
Today, a class is meeting with a hologram聽of a child with a rare genetic condition called聽Angelman syndrome. This provides students聽with an opportunity to perform a cognitive聽screening and get a complete picture of the聽patient through high-quality images. While聽examining the child through 3D imaging,聽students view spasticity 鈥� muscle tightness聽and stiffness 鈥� and hear speech patterns,聽among other characteristics of the condition.聽The hologram also allows them to pick up聽on nonverbal cues that could be missed with聽tools that have a limited view, like a video聽conference call.
Cutting-edge Clinical Practice
Currently, the lifelike hologram technology is聽being utilized by various disciplines, including聽speech-language pathology, physical therapy,聽athletic training and clinical social work, and聽additional programs will be added in the聽future. This fosters hands-on, interprofessional聽learning, which prepares students with practical聽experience in working on a healthcare team.
鈥淭his has revolutionized the way we visualize聽patients,鈥� says Singh. 鈥淚nstead of reading about聽conditions in a book or seeing a flat image on a聽screen, we鈥檙e now able to use 3D-holographic聽images to examine the whole body. Plus, it聽provides us with real-world experience 鈥斅爄nterviewing patients, asking questions and聽knowing what questions to ask 鈥� which helps聽us become more comfortable in different聽situations and will improve quality of care.鈥�
Improving Lives
In addition to providing simulated patients,聽the device allows 激情快播 to advance the health聽and well-being of communities both locally聽and nationally. The technology鈥檚 ability to聽reach patients virtually and in real time will聽expand access to quality healthcare for more聽people, including residents in rural areas聽where in-person care is often not feasible.聽The university also plans to host virtual聽case studies where experts from around the聽world will present their patients using the聽3D technology.