Mixed Reality Patients Monitoring Application for Critical Care Nurses

Abstract

Recent research and development projects have demonstrated the use of virtual reality (VR) technology in the healthcare environment, although most applications are still limited to medical simulations and training applications. Whereas VR removes a user from their immediate environment, augmented and mixed reality (AR/MR) adds virtual content to a user's immediate environment. We endeavor to develop an MR application for hospital medical providers which will enable them to directly monitor any patient and their pertinent medical information from any location, at a glance. With this system, the provider could view a live-stream of patients from other locations and their vital signs to provide information for rapid medical decision making. Such application could significantly improve patient safety, allow quicker response times for emergency and critical situations, and reduce medical errors. It could also enhance the effectiveness of the medical team and allow the providers to more closely monitor their patients, improving patient care outcomes and decreasing costs. A prototype of this proposed MR application is developed with a state-of-the-art head mounted display and the result is presented below.