Enlightening Patients with Augmented Reality (EPAR)

Duration: 01/01/2019 – 31/10/2019

Enlightening Patients with Augmented Reality (EPAR) entails the optimisation and evaluation of information transfer using AR. By means of digital storytelling, medical examinations and operations which are frequently carried out are processed specifically for different target groups.

Medical procedures are becoming increasingly complex and are often hard to understand for patients. At the same time, clinical everyday life often leaves only little time for explaining the intervention and the risks to the patients. The printed information sheets often used at the moment are usually rather general in nature and meant to cover a wider field of application. Only part of the form actually informs the patients on the exact intervention which is to be carried out. In addition, there are always patients whose understanding of the written explanations is insufficient due to language barriers.

The results of an AR prototype developed at the St. Pölten UAS show a need for this use case. In this context, radiotherapy was presented using holographic and acoustic elements, while a narrator explains the processes. The system was implemented using the Microsoft HoloLens and positively evaluated by 22 radiology technologists and doctors.

EPAR enhances patient education with regard to the new possibilities offered by augmented reality. The central question is how users interact with the content shown and become part of the storytelling. Do they explore the content in a self-determined manner? In what form do audio-visual cues have to be placed in three-dimensional space in order to animate user to interact?

Objectives:

Patient education in AR
Creation of a prototype for examinations and operations which are frequently carried out
Evaluation of the prototypes with regard to forms of interaction

Methods:

Definition of scenarios of patient education (e.g. orthoptics, radiotherapy, functional MRT)
Expert interviews with domain specialists for creation of the content
Storyboards for immersive AR visualisation of scenarios
3D modelling and audio recording for content generation
Technical implementation of visualisation with special focus on usability