Augmented reality technology as a tool for better usability of medical equipment

Abstract

The use of medical equipment may be compromised by the lack of knowledge of users about important information and operational characteristics that may cause adverse events. Clinical engineering has as an important function to guide and qualify users in adapting to the use of technology to obtain safer and more reliable health technology processes. The new augmented reality tools, whose main objective is to overlap virtual information in reality through technology, are a good alternative to develop solutions focused on the orientation and qualification of users. This paper presents a proposal to develop a platform for support in the orientation and teaching of medical device users. With this augmented reality platform, through the use of mobile devices, the user can access in real-time information on procedures of adjustments, characteristics, ways of use and control of the medical equipment. This prototype developed for the pulmonary ventilator uses augmented reality in order to enhance its interactions with computer applications more naturally, it seeks to present information about the different ventilation modes, equipment initialization procedures and interactive contents to the user through links and videos. Modern pulmonary ventilators present challenges to users due to the need of knowledge, such as configurations and ways of using parameters; the patient’s trigger in the assisted ventilation mode; use of assisted aspiration; pressure alarm setting. These actions are not usually carried out adequately generating possible adverse events, being this situation one of the main objectives of the use of the technology in the platform for the user support. The preliminary results obtained in this prototype characterize this solution as a support tool for activities developed by Clinical Engineering to improve processes in health care.