Google Glass Goes Beyond TeleMentoring Into Telemedicine

Researchers and developers have done a great job with the integration of Google Glass in the medical world and as a proof to that, during the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions Scientific Sessions, experts said that Google’s device is already successfully used in tele-mentoring and tele-medicine; also, they see a great potential for other uses in fields like cardiology, medical research, even therapy.

Some of the best medical applications for Glass have been tested for a while now, and the results have been encouraging. During the time, developers have created applications that can provide fast access to electronic records, detect strokes or MI and a lot more.

Homer Rivas, Director of innovative surgery at Stanford University, sees a great future for Glass in the medical society and believes that by using it, a telemedicine platform could be created. About telementoring applications he explains that some of them have been tested with patients on multiple occasions and proved to be very helpful, as it does not require medical-grade resolutions for the images, which by the way, Google Glass doesn’t yet have.

Rivas also said that at Stanford, doctors check safety protocols and other guidelines on Google Glass, because this kind of material can be really heavy and the device offers a great way through which doctors could double check their procedures. Meaning that it could save time and increase the safety of the patient.

Heather Evans, assistant professor at the University of Washington describes Glass as being a solution that doesn’t yet have the problem, and believes that there will be a lot of challenges to claim before the device will be fully integrated in the medical system. Of course, a lot of details must be cleared and Glass must ensure HIPAA compliance and data collection, enable data encryption and so on. Also, people – doctors and patients – must be educated on how to use the device, how to react to it and not get distracted by its presence.

But things like those mentioned by Heather are going to be arranged on the road, and we’re sure that Glass can adapt to any given situation. The potential that this device has for medicine is very big but people involved in the project should come up with more specific ideas and probably more applied research. The possibilities in telemedicine are countless and a lot of good could be done after the guidelines and use parameters are settled. Nevertheless, it is very interesting how everything has been approached and how many medical applications have already appeared.

Special thanks to Ethan Bresnick for the featured image.