Why Google Glass is your doctor on call

Google Glass has got seriously into health and researchers are already using it to map the future of medical tests.

Just as we heard that a team of researchers at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) have transformed the device into powerful, wearable medical testing laboratory, experts at the Newcastle University is using the device to help support people with Parkinson’s disease.

Google donated five pairs of Glass to the staff at Newcastle University to allow researchers to test how they could be used to support people with long-term conditions.

According to the University, the team has been working with a group of Parkinson’s volunteers aged between 46-70 years, using the Glass to remind them of things that they need to do - to speak up or to swallow to prevent drooling.

The team will also be exploring how the motion sensors in Glass can be used to support people with ‘freezing’, a behaviour caused by motor blocking a common symptom of Parkinson’s,” the note said.

Dr John Vines, head of the team, says the Glass opens up a new space for exploring the design and development of wearable systems.

“It is very early days – Glass is a new technology we are still learning how it might be used but the beauty of this research project is we are designing the apps and systems for Glass in collaboration with the users so the resulting applications should exactly meet their needs.

“What was really encouraging from this early study was how well our volunteers took to the wearable technology and the fact that they could see the potential in it,” says Vines.

Meanwhile, a team of researchers at UCLA led by Aydogan Ozcan have developed an app for the Glass that allows users to interpret diagnostic test strips for a variety of diseases and health conditions, such as HIV, malaria and prostate cancer.

The video below demonstrates how the app works, and explains the broad impact it could have on medicine.

(Mapping the future)

Earlier this year, in what was considered to be the first such incident Dr. Raj Vyas, a craniofacial surgeon from New York University (NYU), travelled to Birmingham, Alabama, to collaborate with surgeons in El Salvador to correct two infant patients’ cleft lip defects.

Using VIPAAR technology, Vyas virtually placed his hands into the field of vision of the surgeons in the El Salvador operating room.

This was accomplished by having the surgeon in El Salvador wear Google Glass, which used its camera to capture the surgical field.