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Augmented Reality Apps a Multisensory Learning Experience

Orca Health's multisensory augmented reality (AR) apps provide an effective learning experience for the patient.

The “Decide” series of apps puts the power of touch, sound, sight and interactivity into clinician’s hands as they discuss a medical condition and provide instruction to their patients. Patients, who can download the apps to their own mobile devices, learn – through images, videos and jargon-free text—about the impact their condition may have on their lifestyle.

Augmented reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect, view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented (or supplemented) by computer-generated sensory inputs such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data. Advantages of augmented reality in patient education include:

         Patients can visualize the pathology/effect the clinician is talking about

         Patients and family members can see how a potential disease may impact them in their natural surroundings

         A multi-sensory experience has been shown to be more effective in conveying information compared with single sensory delivery

There are also disadvantages of augmented reality in patient education:

         Not all medical conditions or diseases are amenable to AR, especially those that have an variable rate of progression (e.g., multiple sclerosis, degenerative conditions)

         The instructor and the learner both need a certain amount of digital literacy

Interactive Technology & Utility Enhances Patient Understanding

In partnership with Harvard Medical School, Orca Health (Sandy Hook, Utah) offers a suite of 11 “Decide” apps for iPad and iPhone that aim to help patients learn more about their medical condition in a 3D environment. The Apps available include:

  • FootDecide
  • KneeDecide
  • HandDecide
  • HeartDecide
  • DentalDecide
  • KidsDental
  • HeartDecide
  • ENTDecide
  • ShoulderDecide
  • EyeDecide

The apps are built for on iOS-7. Content for each app is provided by medical doctors from Stanford, University of Washington, Harvard and University of Southern California.

Within each app, information is presented in several ways: 3D Anatomical Model, text, video and imaging of medical conditions for that particular part of the body. Anatomical models can be viewed in full, cross-section and expanded. Clinicians can reveal layers (skin, muscle and bone) and make annotations. There is a touchscreen “joystick” to maneuver the anatomical model.

The Conditions menu allows the doctor to present the “story” of how a specific condition develops and, where applicable, show how that condition progresses with and without treatment.

For example, with the app EyeDecide, the impact of age-related macular degeneration can be demonstrated to the patient by viewing a video, reading about causes, treatments (primarily in lay terms), and viewing images of a normal eye and the eye affected by AMD. The patient acquires knowledge about the condition, the clinician can illustrate / discuss possible outcomes and recommendations for treatment.

SpineDecide (like all the orthopedic apps)allows users to manipulate a 3-D depiction of the spine, manually rotating it in space to view various anatomical structures and positions. Each module offers amazing graphic and radiological images of the most common conditions as well as motion depictions (e.g., in FootDecide watch how the foot moves during gait). The clinician can also take and upload videos and photos. The Specialist menu is included with all the apps; it provides an extensive list of physicians and physical therapists, as the case may be, based on the patient’s geographic location.

Easy for Doctors, Easy for Patients

For clinicians who have registered with OrcaHealth, there is a more detailed view for annotation and illustration purposes as well as emailed to the patient. In addition, data can be exported in a number of different formats and added to several different EMRs. Orca content can be accessed online, on iPads and on TV systems.

Clinicians can encourage the patient to download any of the Decide Apps to their own mobile device. This way the patient, and family members, can review the information on their own time before making decisions about treatment.

Overall Performance

  • The OrcaHealth Decide Apps are easy enough for the patient to use and informative enough for medical students and established clinicians to use in practice.
  • The graphics are stunning and will engage the patient
  • The digital library of conditions, images, video and brief text descriptions are ideal for patient education and quick reference
  • The apps (as of 9/20/2013) are free in the iTunes store.
  • Registered physicians pay $18.00 per month billed annually
  • Technical problems are addressed via email by Orca’s technical staff (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
  • Available only for iOS-7 and no immediate plans to offer apps on Android, Blackberry, and Windows.

Karen M. Rider, M.A. is a freelance writer who specializes in wellness, health psychology and healthcare news. In addition to writing for print and digital publications, Karen writes marketing content for healthcare and wellness practitioners, and teaches undergraduate courses in psychology and health science.   

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