PROJECTIONDESIGN F12S EDGE-BLENDED FOR REHABILITATION APPLICATION
Two North American installations, located at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego, California and McGill University, Montreal, Canada, each deploy the images from three edge-blended projectiondesign F12s to create a 180º panoramic image in front of and around the patient as part of Motek Medical’s proprietary Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment (CAREN). The latest scientific research into the
nature of human movement and rehabilitation after, for example, military combat, sports and other activities requires careful study of how the patient reacts to the world around him. Using completely integrated components including a treadmill, a
motion-capture system, a graphic environment based on flight-simulator technology and immersive projected imagery, CAREN creates a ‘virtual world’ in which the patient’s movements are integrated directly with the visualisation onto the screen. In both San Diego and Montreal, a
cylindrical projection screen envelops the patient’s treadmill, effectively creating a moving panorama which alters in character with each step the patient takes. Every movement is monitored by medical staff and recorded for further study.
‘In South
America we see a lot of potential, especially in
Chile and Brazil’ Warren
Kressinger-Dunn, Barco
telemedicine is, it seems, even less common; Asia is just getting up to speed on teaching applications that are otherwise hot across the globe, and looks as if it will be Asia’s first step into medical AV. The biggest growth opportunities, from what I'm hearing, are definitely in North America and Europe.” At the heart of any
investment in AV systems in healthcare is, unsurprisingly, the desire to improve patient care. It is something of a mantra in the industry that happy patients are likely to recover more quickly – and hospitals are responding. “One trend that we are seeing is a strong interest in enhanced patient entertainment systems that
can incorporate new HD video services and meet the more demanding expectations of the iPad generation,” says Colin Farquhar, CEO of IPTV communications specialist Exterity. “In today’s connected
world,” he continues, “patients are accustomed to highly evolved media solutions at home, at work and in hotels, creating much higher expectations for AV in healthcare than ever before. By utilising a hospital’s existing IP network, healthcare providers can deliver all of the services that patients are increasingly coming to expect throughout their stay in hospital while also driving revenue through additional services. That’s
only one of the reasons why IPTV technology is being increasingly adopted throughout the healthcare industry.”
MULTIPURPOSE TERMINALS Seeing that same opportunity, Barco acquired UK-based JAOtech – a manufacturer of patient entertainment and point-of- care terminals for hospitals – earlier this year.
“The UK is an established
market for bedside terminals compared to other European countries,” points out Warren Kressinger-Dunn, a VP of strategic marketing at Barco. “France can also be seen as a well-established market. The US market is a young one, gradually switching on to the
benefits of replacing traditional TV and PC solutions with terminals and very much focusing on the clinical and administrative applications as well as entertainment. Asia and Pacific is a new market, but it is growing in countries like Singapore and Hong Kong, where medical tourism is popular. The growth in the Middle East is partly a result of many new hospitals being built with sizable budgets for healthcare IT infrastructure. In South America we see a lot of potential, especially in Chile and Brazil because of the developing IT infrastructure.” The JAO bedside terminals combine both patient care functionality and entertainment facilities. Via