The testing process of the pilot project

Google Glass was tested at two departments of Odense University Hospital: The Common Emergency Department and the Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics. Google Glass was used 23 times during the pilot project period, including 11 times in tests involving patients and 12 times without patient involvement.

At the Emergency Department the Google Glass function 'see-what-I-see' / live streaming was used, so that the staff could get advice from more experienced colleagues who were not physically involved in the trial. At the Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics Google Glass was used to give operating physicians visual inputs (CTG curve) in support of verbal descriptions when a midwife needed advice, regarding a patient at the maternity ward, from a physician that was engaged in performing a surgery.

Results

The pilot project has found positive indications for the use of Google Glass in clinical settings focused on observations, user evaluations, and verbal feedback from users and project participants.

The project partners believe that Google Glass can act as a quality booster as well as a timesaver. At the Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics the clinicians involved in the project announced that the CTG curve presented on Google Glass was a useful and valuable addition to the verbal description, and provided a more nuanced basis for decision-making. Moreover, 'here-and-now decisions' made by the operating physician will reduce the need for follow-up inquiries after surgery.

Clinicians at the Emergency Department have indicated that the use of 'see-what-I-see' feature provides a clinical value because decisions can be taken even if the consulting party is not physically present.

However, there were also a number of technical challenges that prevent immediate implementation of a technology like Google Glass e.g. battery life, eyeglasses used together with Google Glass, and security aspects in terms of the clinical data transmitted via the GG technology.