Holographic Healthcare Training Now Available for Med Schools

Immersive technologies are rapidly penetrating the higher education market. This year we expect to see more institutions embracing digital transformation by partnering with EdTech providers to actively embrace change in 21st century education.

Holograms, the representation of three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface, were invented by Hungarian-British electrical engineer and physicist Dennis Gabor in 1947 while working on an electron microscope. However, optical holography did not advance until the invention of the laser in 1960. Gabor received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1971 “for his invention and development of the holographic method.”

Since then, holographic technology has evolved and today is used across several industries, including education.

GigXR Inc., a global provider of eXtended Reality (XR) immersive learning systems for instructor-led teaching and training and ANIMA RES, a specialist in 3D medical animations and interactive Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Virtual Reality (VR) applications with focus on the pharmaceutical, medical, and bio technological sectors, have partnered to create the Insight Series, a next-gen immersive learning for medical schools that is scalable, cost- and resource-efficient, and true-to-life.

The Insight Series by ANIMA RES features accurately structured 3D models of the lung, heart, and kidney to enable medical and nursing students to see the impact of conditions and diseases of the affected organ. The applications are delivered on the GigXR Immersive Learning Platform and provide global institutions and instructors with holographic anatomy content that is hyper-realistic and engaging.

Mixed Reality provides detailed immersive medical learning

The Insight Series by ANIMA RES is integrated with the Gig Immersive Learning Platform which provides a simple, centralized hub for institution-wide immersive learning across levels, programs, and departments. Instructors and learners can access the applications using Mixed Reality (MR) headsets such as Microsoft HoloLens 2, or any Android or iOS mobile phone or tablet, and display each 3D model of the heart, lung, or kidney to accurately observe how each organ might be affected by various modes of disease.

  • Insight Heart: Shows movements of a healthy heart or the stages, consequences, and treatment of common heart problems, including myocardial infarction (heart attack), atrial fibrillation and arterial hypertension. This is especially important as heart attacks are frequently misdiagnosed and all of these conditions need to be identified as early as possible
  • Insight Lung: Provides an in-depth look at asthma and COPD and their effect on lungs when compared to the organ in healthy condition, helping learners understand the pathology behind each condition and evaluation of proper treatment options
  • Insight Kidney: Created a macroscopic to microscopic visualization of healthy kidneys or those affected by common and rare diseases such as CKD, aHUS, IgAN, and C3G, giving learners a detailed look at structural and functional changes caused by each pathology 

These technology solutions, identified as technology trends in higher education in 2023, are a powerful example on how the Metaversity can provide a more immersive, accessible, and equitable educational training experience both on campus and remote learning, and how eXtended Reality (XR) empowers advances in healthcare education.

“Holograms provide significant advantages for teaching anatomy and can also serve as an effective resource to complement cadavers or paid simulated patient-actors for diagnostic simulations,” said Dr. Mark Cohen, Dean of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, and Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer at Carle Health. 

“Integrating holograms into the curriculum adds a whole new level of immersion and visual representation that today’s digitally-savvy medical learners can really benefit from,” he said.

According to Cohen, interactive and realistic holograms help learners see the physiology in a way that not only enhances the anatomical and pathophysiology knowledge they are building, but also adds perspective to how an anatomic holograms can be incorporated for future diagnostic applications in the clinical setting as well as for patient education.

For Cohen, the Insight Series in-depth look at the effects of disease on vital organs is an incredible new resource that integrates with key learning and curricular opportunities for students. “It will advance healthcare training by providing a deeper understanding of the human body from normal anatomy and physiology to what changes happen in disease states.”

For more articles on VR, AR, and XR, see:

How Universities Are Enhancing Veterinary Education Utilizing VR

Virtual Reality: Trends in Higher Ed for 2023 and Beyond