#REALMX2018: Toronto to Host Realities in Medicine Conference
A child has severe anxiety before surgery to fix a broken arm, but virtual reality goggles let her experience the coming procedure and allay her fears. A medical student steps into the shoes of an ER doctor to quickly treat a car accident victim — through a simulation app. Nurses in a burn ward reduce a patient's opioid dose on finding a 3D video game distracts him from the pain of wound dressing changes.
Is this the medicine of the present or the future? Both, says Fahad Alam, an assistant professor in U of T's Department of Anesthesia and co-founder of the Collaborative Human Immersive Interaction Laboratory (CHISIL).
"We're starting to use immersive reality in clinical care and medical education, but we're still on the cusp of really transformative change, says Alam, who is also an anesthesiologist at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.” It's a lot like mannequin simulation 20 years ago. People knew the technology held promise, but they had to figure out how to implement it and where it could be most effective."
To speed that process, Alam and Professor Clyde Matava from The Hospital for Sick Children, together with their CHISIL colleagues, are hosting Realities in Medicine — the first Canadian conference to showcase research on the application of virtual, augmented and mixed realities in medicine. The event will feature work and presentations by researchers, health care professionals and medical educators, but also technology developers and industry experts.
"We collaborate with many allied health professionals, but it's challenging to line up with people in the tech industry. At the same time, the tech industry doesn't have a lot of connections in health. The idea is to bring both sides together to form collaborations, figure out where we want to go and create solutions," says Alam, who recently completed the Translational Research Program at U of T.
Conference speakers will include Dr. Walter Greenleaf, a neuroscientist and medical product developer from Stanford University, Dr. Ben Lok, a professor at the University of Florida and co-founder of Shadow Health Inc., and the University of Washington’s Dr. Hunter Hoffman, the creator of SnowWorld.
The event will also feature a 'Sharks' Den' competition for those looking to translate an immersive reality application into clinical practice. Applicants could earn $2,000 and mentorship opportunities with CHISIL.
Realities in Medicine will run at the Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning at The Hospital for Sick Children. The deadline for Sharks’ Den pitch ideas and research abstract submission is March 16th. Early bird registration ends March 23. Visit the conference website for more information.
