GIGXR Launches Holographic Standardized Patients for Medical and Nursing School Remote Simulation Training

GIGXR, Inc., provider of the extended reality (XR) GIG Immersive Learning System for instructor-led teaching and training, announced today the launch of HoloPatient Remote and GIG Mobile for medical and nursing schools. Built for online and hybrid learning environments, these applications together facilitate safe and socially distanced standardized patient simulation training while enabling real-time interaction, engagement and clinical assessment between students and instructors.

HoloPatient Remote is an extension to the cloud-based HoloPatient application that transports true-to-life holographic patients to remote student locations where they can be viewed and examined by students using their phone or tablet during collaborative instructor-led simulation lab training sessions. GIG Mobile is used to control applications like HoloPatient Remote and interact with the GIG Immersive Learning System, an XR teaching system designed to enhance, not replace, existing curriculum and teaching methods.

“Guidelines around how instructors teach and engage with their students, whether online or on campus, are shifting daily. Most are ending up with a hybrid model at best while still needing tools that optimize learning” said David King Lassman, CEO and founder of GIGXR. “This is especially challenging for fields that benefit from in-person, immersive training such as healthcare, where standardized patient training can’t be taught effectively over Zoom. We developed HoloPatient Remote and GIG Mobile so students can complete and even accelerate simulation training, in many cases meeting graduation requirements.”

Clinical simulation is an integral part of training and education in healthcare fields, representing as much as 50% of clinical training for nursing students according to a recent study. Access to simulation labs and other facilities and equipment where such training is traditionally done is limited at best in the age of COVID-19 protocols, slowing the learning progress of many students and even preventing graduation for lack of completed simulation hours.

“While students are required to stay safe and socially distanced, GIGXR’s HoloPatient is the closest, highest-quality learning experience you can get to training with real patients,” said Dr. Linda Herrmann, NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. “GIGXR’s use of volumetric 3D video to capture standardized patients creates pathology experiences that are unimaginably life-like for physically safe and safe-to-fail environments. Enabling students to hear, see and interact with holographic culturally diverse patients, and each other, provides some of the most cutting-edge and effective teaching and training modalities in our field.”

HoloPatient Remote is a mobile application for iOS and Android that extends the reach of HoloPatient beyond Microsoft HoloLens 2 devices. Here are some of the highlights and key features:

Remote and/or socially distanced student groups connect with their instructor, who is wearing a Microsoft HoloLens 2 mixed reality headset, using their iOS or Android device

Very high quality, real-life holographic standardized patients are transported to the student location during the session

Students use the mixed reality features of their iOS or Android device to select a location in their room for the standardized patient to sit, stand or lie down for examination.

Students can independently walk around, examine and interact with the holographic patient while communicating with their instructor through VOIP.

Students can observe a wide variety of patient pathologies, conditions and states of decline chosen and highlighted by the instructor for the session.

Collaborative learning among the group facilitates highly effective learning outcomes.

GIG Mobile is a native iOS and Android app that enables students, instructors and administrators to interact with the GIG Immersive Learning System with key features including:

Instructors can create a session template of content that is replicable and can be assigned to specific student groups.

Students can join training sessions remotely for applications such as HoloPatient.

Data collection around changes made by users made in a session, such as vital signs and remote labels that are placed in the scene.

QR code login that is rapid and seamless, with sessions that are launched by instructors and accessed by students with one click of a button.

“Simulation modalities such as standardized patients and Mask-Ed™ are widely used in health care education, however during the COVID-19 pandemic these modalities are difficult to employ due to social distancing,” said Dr Jane Frost, Associate Professor in Nursing at University of Canberra. “GIGXR’s HoloPatient has been a useful addition to allow students a consistent realistic experience that is less time and resource intensive as other modalities. GIGXRs latest enhancement HoloPatient remote has increased its useability in online learning and enabled students to continue to engage in realistic simulation experiences whilst learning remotely.”

GIGXR is trusted by academic institutions globally, including NYU, Ursuline, University of Pennsylvania, Bucks County Community College, Presbyterian Health Services, Creighton University, College of Lake County, Buckeye Hills Career Center in the United States; University of Canberra, TAFE Queensland, Flinders University, Otago Polytechnic, Southern Institute of Technology, Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi in Australasia; University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.

HoloPatient Remote and GIG Mobile are bundled applications that are available to download via the iOS App or Google Play Stores. These apps are free to students and instructors of institutions who license the Immersive Learning System and HoloPatient application. With the announcement of HoloPatient Remote, a discounted starter package is available to institutions that purchase during the Fall Term. For more information on HoloPatient Remote, GIG Mobile and the GIG Immersive Learning System, please visit www.gigxr.com or email sales@gigxr.com to request a demo today.