Google Glass Goes Full Roll-out to Medical Students at UC Irvine
Following Google Glass went on sale in the U.S., the wearable gadget is now set to train future doctors. All medical students at University of California Irvine School of Medicine got a pair of the wearable gadget to be used in their schools and hospital rotations.
UC Irvine is the very first medical school to fully integrate Google Glass into the mainstream. Starting May this year, the junior and senior medical students will use the gadget in their hospital rounds. By August, all freshmen and sophomore medical students at the university will use the wearable technology in their anatomy and clinical courses.
According to the university's press release, UC Irvine Dean of Medicine Dr. Ralph Clayman said, "Our use of Google Glass is in keeping with our pioneering efforts to enhance student education with digital technologies - such as our iPad-based iMedEd Initiative, point-of-care ultrasound training and medical simulation. Enabling our students to become adept at a variety of digital technologies fits perfectly into the ongoing evolution of healthcare into a more personalized, participatory, home-based and digitally driven endeavor."
Despite the exorbitant price of the smart device, the university foresees Google Glass to transmit real-life, patient-physician experience.
"I believe digital technology will let us bring a more impactful and relevant clinical learning experience to our students," said Dr. Clayman. "Medical education has always been very visual and very demonstrative, and Glass has enormous potential to positively impact the way we can educate physicians in real time."
Other medical schools are still in the process of pilot-testing the Glass. Know Your Mobile cited Dr. John Halamka, chief information officer of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, who provided a detailed account how he uses the wearable gadget to help him track his patients in his blog.
Google Glass runs on an Android 4.0 Kikat and comes with several apps. It also has three adjustable nose pads to fit any size of the face while boosting built-in 5 MP camera. It also has a display resolution of 640 x 360 pixels and 720 video capture and fully integrated Bluetooth and Wi-Fi capabilities.
Google Glass can also store up to 16 GB of data and has a bone conduction transducer to transmit the audio directly into the user's ears, although there is an optional earpiece that can be connected using a 3.5 mm headphone jack.
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