Medical education going digital, virtual, and virtual reality (US/UK)

How do you educate medical and nursing students when class is no longer in session? What about clinical training when hospitals are restricted due to COVID? It’s no surprise that remote learning and pre-recorded classes plus active lecturer-student discussions on Zoom (or more secure video meeting platforms) in the spring filled the gap of the first two years of med school, which are primarily tied to class instruction. For incoming and resuming classes, most have a mix of online and in-person classes, depending on school location. Nursing schools faced and resolved similar situations.

But what happens in the second two years, when lectures mix with in-person clinical learning? Most schools pulled students from clinical work in the spring, but some, like Mount Sinai in New York, continued. The University of Houston has developed some other approaches. Their medical school, starting this year, was co-founded with insurance payer Humana as part of the Humana Integrated Health Systems Science Institute. Nursing school students who would typically join nurses on house calls shadowed these nurses on virtual visits as part of their clinical training. 

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) is also looking at ways to integrate telehealth into medical school curricula, and is publishing a guide this fall detailing core competencies around telemedicine.  FierceHealthcare

Virtual reality (VR) is providing a more interactive training environment for clinicians with realistic scenarios and feedback. Computer simulations have been common for years in specialty surgery and diagnostics. With reductions in pricing on headsets like the Oculus Rift and Quest, several companies are introducing a different kind of virtual visit, one in a realistic clinic setting, simulating a pressured situation. These come complete with interaction between doctors, nurses, and other clinicians, can be ‘multi-player’, and provide performance analysis/feedback. This Editor noted Oxford Medical Simulation’s work with NHS England in Wessex on treatment for diabetic emergencies [News Roundup, TTA 3 Apr 19] and another pilot at OxSTaR (Oxford Simulation, Teaching and Research) center [News Roundup, TTA 8 Aug 19]. In surgery, Southern Methodist University (which has a leading graduate school for video game design), Virti, and Medical Realities (the latter two UK firms) have pioneered training in US, UK, and Europe plus specialized trainings for surgeons in Africa replicating conditions faced in ORs there. The trainings not only teach procedure, but reduce surgeon and fellow clinician stress. Digital Trends

Comings and goings, short takes, and in other news…: Vivify’s new SVP Sales, Parks’ Connected Health Summit, $35M for 3D portable ultrasound, Oxford Medical Sim new pilot

In comings and goings….remote patient monitoring company Vivify Health announced that Chris Fickle has joined them as Senior Vice President, Sales. Mr. Fickle was previously with Qualcomm as senior director, business development including international and in the home health market as general manager of Healthfield and American HomePatient. Vivify currently has customers such as UPMC, Trinity Health, and the Ontario (Canada) Telemedicine Network and provides remote care management through personalized care plans, biometric data monitoring, and multi-channel patient education. Certainly in the umpteenth iteration of their website and June’s MedTech Breakthrough Award, they have apparently bounced back from their bounce-out from their VA award in early 2018 [TTA 14 June 18 and 16 Jan 18].

A reminder that Parks Associates’ Connected Health Summit in San Diego is now open for registration. TTA has been in the past a formal media supporter of the CHS and while not this year, it’s a great way to spend a few days in late August. The location, content around the demand for both clinical and consumer health and wellness solutions aimed at improving the quality of life for people living and seeking support at home, and the speaker list has always been outstanding. Follow their Twitter feed at @CONN_Health_Smt | Hashtag: #CONNHealth19. And register here.

This Editor has been following handheld ultrasound since GE Healthcare debuted the VScan in what seems an eternity ago (only 2010!) –and yes, it’s still around–Mobisante demonstrated at TED by no less than Eric Dishman in 2013–and last year the locally-based Butterfly IQ hit the market at about half the price and raised $250 million. Now Redwood City, California startup Exo Imaging has gained a $35 million Series B round to develop its portable ultrasound that through AI assistance generates a 3D image. Release. Mobihealthnews

The UK’s Oxford Medical Simulation has picked up another pilot of their Oculus Rift VR headsets to simulate in-practice interactive patient treatment at the OxSTaR (Oxford Simulation, Teaching and Research) center, part of  John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxfordshire. We covered OMS in April with their pilot with Health Education England Wessex at the Portsmouth and Southampton Hospitals. Mobihealthnews

 

News roundup from all over: prescribing apps is back! Plus telemental health Down Under, GreatCall’s health tech strategy, Wessex’s diabetic sim, telehealth growth outpaces urgent care

Back to the future with prescribing apps! Early stage Xealth just gained a $11 million Series A from heavyweights such as Novartis, McKesson Ventures, UPMC, Philips, and ResMed. Clinicians can prescribe and monitor digital health care content, apps, devices, and services from within their EHR. Yet another thing to add to their 5+ hours a day in the system! Let’s hope that in staying away from certification, they are more successful than predecessors like the long-expired Happtique and the little-noticed but still in business Xcertia [TTA 6 Dec 15Release 

Telemental health startup Lysn working to spread mental health access in Australia. In two years, it has grown to over 265 psychologists and partners with 53 GP clinics, mainly regional and rural. The creator of the service is a Canadian-born surgeon, Dr. Jonathan King, who is 35–and bootstrapped it with his own earnings and house. In The Black

A good coffee break read is an interview with GreatCall’s CEO David Inns outlining their health tech strategy for older adults, including a reboot of Lively Home (without the exclamation point) with Senior Whole Health in Massachusetts for ADL monitoring (set up by Best Buy’s Geek Squad), the predictive analytics part of HealthSense in using connectivity and monitoring to predict falls, depression, and diseases, and back to wearables with smartphones. What is interesting is the stunning claim that they can back up the “soak up 20 percent of the healthcare costs of the population that we’re working with” through these predictive analytics and monitoring by reducing long-term care expenses. (Reminds me of some of the claims we made at Living Independently!) However, if any company has the muscle to make it happen, they do. BTW, not a peep about the retail Assured Living in Best Buy stores we tried to find last year, in vain. Mobihealthnews.

Oxford Medical Simulation is partnering with NHS England to trial its virtual reality training for diabetic emergencies. The pilot is being directed by Health Education England Wessex at the Portsmouth and Southampton Hospitals. Fifty doctors will use Oculus Rift headsets to walk through Oxford’s 100 or so scenarios. Mobihealthnews.

The growth of telehealth is outpacing urgent care and retail clinics, according to FAIR Health. This healthcare nonprofit calculated a 53 percent growth rate for telehealth (defined as virtual visits) between 2016 and 2017. In contrast, urgent care use increased only 15 percent in urban areas but went flat in rural areas. Retail clinic use fell 28 percent in urban areas and with a small 3 percent increase in rural areas. The advantages of telehealth in rural areas (up 29 percent), of course, is not having to drive when you’re sick. For urban residents, the advantage is not having to leave the house. According to their analysis, the top three reasons for telehealth visits were acute respiratory infections, digestive issues and injuries, each representing 13 percent of telehealth diagnoses. Mental health, which led in 2016, dropped to fifth. Healthcare Dive