Omar Badri – Automated SMS/email-based check-ins to educate and monitor patients
Category: Resident
An automated patient support and monitoring tool that delivers precisely timed text-message and/or email-based reminders to patients for a variety of indications (e.g. procedure prep, discharge). The patient instructions are either video based or written
in a clear, succinct, manner. Moreover, the program delivers check-in questions related to patient progress and flags those at-risk of non-compliance for appropriate outreach. The program, and its content, is fully customizable to reflect any practice/institution,
which enables patients to experience the program as a seamless extension of their providers care. The software removes significant technical barriers, as it does not require an app download or EHR integration.
Kevin Wong – Augmented reality environment for medical education
Category: Student
Augmented reality (AR) combines real-world environments with computer-generated sounds, text, and graphics. Current applications focus on consumer products and video games, however, such navigation systems have potential for use in medical education.
The game developer software Unity 3D engine (San Francisco, CA) was utilized to program 3D anatomic models into a “game environment’ which was then projected into augmented reality using Vuforia software development. Both computer-generated anatomic
models and real patient anatomy derived from CT and MRI imaging can be displayed in this manner. Imaging in DICOM format was converted into 3D models using the software 3D slicer. Final data was uploaded onto a smartphone fitted into a Google Cardboard
viewer; the user enters an AR environment and has the ability to zoom, rotate, and clip through layers of projected anatomic models. As this program is based on the optical inputs of a smartphone, the model is easily accessible and highly mobile.
The application was field-tested in fifteen BU medical students, who completed a follow-up survey.
