A "patient" choosing the Australia theme, one of 10 currently available in the Ambient Experience suite of the National Heart Centre Singapore's cardiac catheterization laboratory.
(Credit: Philips)Cardiac patients undergoing procedures at the National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS) starting Thursday may find themselves either immersed in a Disney World setting or the African Savannah, with accompanying audio playing in the background. It's part of a testbed project by the center involving Philips' Ambient Experience to soothe patients through the intimidating clinical process of preparation, examination, treatment, and post-procedure.
The Ambient Experience takes patients on a multimedia ride, letting them personalize the lighting, projected images, and sounds in the examination or lab room. The 10 themes can be selected via a menu on a wireless touch-screen tablet, with more themes on the way. Once picked, the patient's choice is projected on the walls and ceilings and through TV screens, wrapping the user in a multi-sensory setting of his or her own choosing.
The wireless touch screen lets the patient instantaneously personalize the room's "theme."
(Credit: Philips)So far, the Ambient Experience appears to have had a positive impact on the three patients who earlier sampled it. According to 75-year-old Neo Bee, who was at the cardiac catheterization laboratory to have angioplasty to open her blocked arteries, "I saw birds and kangaroos on the ceiling and there was soothing music, too. I felt calm and relaxed."
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Techie Diva)
Japan may have robots that can clean and tend to hospital patients, but German scientists are working on a model that can do both.
In addition to mopping floors, the "Nursebot" can reportedly take a patient's temperature with laser beams and thermal camera imaging. And, as Technie Diva says, "this means no more rectal temperature-taking treatment for you."
The Nursebot is scheduled for 2010, but we're looking for ways to donate contributions to speed its release.
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IntelliDot)
If you have any doctor or nurse friends who doubt the importance of digitizing medical records, show them this.
The "CAREt System," which Medgadget says is being called the "medical iPod," is one more device that could help save lives thanks to digital databases and other updated technologies. IntelliDot, its manfacturer, describes it this way: "By simply scanning a patient wristband, the CAREt handheld device guides the nurse through all required medication administration and documentation tasks that have accumulated for a patient. Information is clear, organized and delivered right into the caregiver's hand, right when it's needed."
We understand the concerns over keeping medical records private but, in our case anyway, we won't complain the next time we're asked to sign yet another waiver if it means we'll benefit from technologies like this.
This will bring back painful memories for any parents who have endured the fun experience of having blood samples taken from their kids (or from other adults). It can be an ordeal even under the best of circumstances, when veins are visible, but the situation can get ugly in a hurry when a near-sighted nurse is poking a needle around some sensitive areas.
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Luminetx)
But an ingenious technology from bioscience company Luminetx can essentially give health care workers X-ray vision by highlighting veins. The "VeinViewer," according to Gear Live, "works by a near-infrared light highlighting red blood cells captured by video camera, digitizing them, then displaying them below the skin, thereby aiding clinicians to find veins that might otherwise be difficult to discover."
The technology has been in the works for some time, but it's finally starting to be used in significant numbers. And not a moment too soon: It will be even more important if hospitals start transferring robo- receptionists to the labs.
The way things are going in Japan, receptionists might eventually become entirely obsolete. The human ones, anyway.
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Live Gear)
About 124 miles north of Tokyo, Aizu Central Hospital is employing the country's first front-desk robots. A mechanical receptionist mans the desk and answers questions while two porter-bots handle luggage and escort patients to the proper areas at a speed of up to 1 mph, according to Gear Live.
While we've had our share of problems with the service industry, we're not sure this is the best idea. It's one thing to replace surly hotel clerks with bots or droids, but hospital workers? Let's just hope they don't station them in the emergency room any time soon.
Gaming-geek, Web-comic superstars Mike "Gabriel" Krahulik and Jerry "Tycho Brahe" Holkins have kicked off the third annual Child's Play charity drive. Child's Play sets up wish lists full of video games, toys, and other fun things to purchase and automatically donate to children's hospitals. Last year's Child's Play drive raised more than $600,000 for children's hospitals. With 28 hospitals participating worldwide so far, this year has potential to be even bigger.
Child's Play was originally created as a response to the public misconception that video games helped to encourage only violence. When the charity began in 2003, Krahulik wrote:
"If you are like me, every time you see an article...where the author claims that video games are training our nations youth to kill, you get angry. The media seems intent on perpetuating the myth that gamers are ticking time bombs just waiting to go off. I know for a fact that gamers are good people. I have had the opportunity on multiple occasions to meet hundreds of you at conventions all over the country. We are just regular people who happen to love video games. With that in mind we have put together a little something we like to call "Child's Play". Penny Arcade is working with the Seattle Children's Hospital and Amazon.com to make this Christmas really special for a lot of very sick kids. With the help of the Children's Hospital we have created an Amazon Wish List for the kids. It's full of video games, movies and toys. Some of these kids are in pretty bad shape and just having a Game Boy would really raise their spirits...Let's give these kids the Christmas that they deserve and let's give the newspapers a different kind of story to write about gamers."
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