Crescent Regional Hospital is the first to offer hologram patient visits
Patients at Crescent Regional Hospital can schedule a contactless visit with their doctor or a range of medical specialists from the Dallas area or anywhere in the world, through the magic of spatial computing. The once ailing hospital is now using holograms for touchless patient visits and plans to expand its use of holographic technology, Holoconnects announced Wednesday.
WHY IT MATTERS
Three-dimensional telehealth can help improve patient care visits, just as it helps train surgeons, physicians and nurses around the world.
With a complete view of a patient’s anatomy, surgeons can better navigate surgical training and live operations, while nurses benefit from the simulation training opportunities that hologram technology can provide. Using holograms, doctors at Crescent Regional Hospital in Lancaster, Texas, project themselves into patient rooms, according to the Netherlands-based provider of 3D holographic technology.
Holoconnects said it had previously installed an 86-inch Holobox display and video studio at the hospital and trained Crescent’s physicians, staff and technical operations team on how to use the technology. Now the hospital plans to add 24-inch Holobox Mini displays at several additional locations to increase usage. of technology among the hospital’s clinical and specialist staff.
Raji Kumar, CEO and managing partner of Crescent, said in a statement that integrating the technology into the hospitals will reduce patient wait times, increase access to specialty healthcare providers and “improve patient care across multiple disciplines.”
While patients will have access to hologram visits for pre- and post-operative consultations, including cardiology, emergency medicine, gastroenterology, neurology, orthopedic care, pulmonary, general surgery, spine health, wound care and more, telemedicine rounds will help Crescent’s physicians ‘cut corners’ . their time.
Doctors could save up to 20 hours a week, Holoconnects argued.
They can also use hologram technology for remote patient consultations, which can eliminate long wait times to be seen and collaborative care planning.
Crescent plans to expand its use of real-time hologram technology to assist with remote diagnostics, remote surgery assistance, language interpretation, medical training and education, and medical equipment demonstrations, Holoconnects said.
Kumar purchased the hospital in 2018, just before its closure, and prioritized technology in improving services for the predominantly African American and Latino patient population, the announcement said.
Crescent performs 2,000 orthopedic, spine and other surgeries annually and opened a cardiac catheterization lab last year.
THE BIG TREND
Immersive experiences and spatial computing applications also benefit patients. Augmented reality has been shown to distract patients from the fear of waiting, diagnoses and pain.
UCHealth launched its first mobile AR experience for patients, who can use their devices to interact with virtual dogs while waiting for appointments.
Earlier this year, San Diego-based Sharp HealthCare announced the launch of a Spatial Computing Center of Excellence through a partnership with Epic and the Dutch information analytics company Elsevier.
The center focuses on developing holographic technology to improve patient care with the Apple Vision Pro augmented reality headset.
ON THE RECORD
“By teleporting our doctors in real-time to connect and talk to our patients from anywhere, while a life-size hologram gives our patients access to the healthcare they deserve,” Kumar said in a statement.
“It also saves our physicians one of their most valuable resources – time – allowing them to see as many patients as possible.”
Andrea Fox is editor-in-chief of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.