US$1500 Google Glass for UC Irvine School of Medicine is also on Sale to Public - Ramp up for 2015 Public Launch as UWI Med Sci Students have Tablets but no Glass

“Medical education has always been very visual and very demonstrative, and Glass has enormous potential to positively impact the way we can educate physicians in real time. Indeed, all of medicine is based on ‘seeing’, not ‘reading’, the patient.”

UC Irvine's Assistant Clinical Professor of Emergency Medicine and Associate Dean of instructional technologies Dr. Warren Wiechmann speaking about the use of Google Glass at UC Irvine

UC Irvine School of Medicine has now become the first Medical Teaching Institution in the world to incorporate Google Glass into their Teaching curriculum for their Medical course as stated in “Google Glass handed out to all medical students at UC Irvine”, published May 14, 2014 6:09 PM PDT by Dara Kerr, CNET News and “UC Irvine is the first medical school to add Google Glass to its curriculum”, published May 15, 2014 11:45 AM  by Barry Levine, VentureBeat.

To be more specific, Google Glass will be used by the following Medical Students at UC Irvine School of Medicine as follows:

1.      1st and 2nd year Students will use Google Glass for Anatomy Class

2.      3rd and 4th year Students will use Google Glass during their hospital rotations

UC Irvine's Dean of Medicine Dr. Ralph V. Clayman, who's currently pioneering the use of Google Glass in other areas of the hospital, such as the operating rooms, intensive care units, and the emergency department, is clearly gung-ho about technology's role in Teaching Medicine, quote:  “I believe digital technology will let us bring a more impactful and relevant clinical learning experience to our students. Enabling our students to become adept at a variety of digital technologies fits perfectly into the ongoing evolution of healthcare into a more personalized, participatory, home-based and digitally driven endeavor.”

Google Glass as a Tool for Learning – UWI Med Sci Students have Tablets but no Glass

Already Google Glass is being used by the Doctors at Beth Israel Hospital, who have adopted it due to this Wearable Computer Voice Command hands-free way of accessing information.  So too, interestingly, has the US Army, which is very much interested in using it in combat situations, which may include in-the-battlefield medical Diagnosis as suggested in my blog article entitled “US Air Force testing the use of Google Glass in Combat - Helping Professionals on the Front Lines of their respective fields”.

Meanwhile back in Jamaica…..

The question many Med Sci Students here in Jamaica at the University of the West Indies should be asking is this: when will ANY of these Technologies be adopted in Teaching Medicine as well as in Hospitals to enhance the quality of delivery of Medical Care?

Hopefully they will adopt Google Glass in the future much as they’d pioneered the use of Tablets for Med Sci Students as I’d originally reported in my blog article entitled “UWI Medical Sciences Students get deal on JL Mobile SmartTab Tablets and cheaper ebook versions of Textbooks - From Gross Anatomy to Islandwide Push towards Tablet Adoption”.

Google Glass on Sale to the Public – Ramp up to meet Samsung Galax Glass and Facebook’s Oculus Rift

Google Glass has now gone on sale officially and is available for US$1500 online as Google tries to pre-empt the coming of Samsung Galaxy Glass as explained in my blog article entitled “Google Glass launched early as a Product - Google pre-empting Samsung Galaxy Glass and Facebook's Oculus Rift replacing the smartphone in 2015 the Year of the Sheep”.

Clearly too, Google is also feeling a little fear of Facebook’s Oculus Rift, whose Technology delivers a whole new perspective on VR (Virtual Reality) and how News is interpreted as predicted in my blog article entitled “Facebook launches FB Newswire with Verified News from Storyful - Facebook's a bonafide Social Media Newspaper coming soon to a Oculus Rift Smartglasses near you”.

So who’s going to adopt Google Glass Next aside from UC Irvine School of Medicine? My best bet would be Maintenance Engineers in a Process Plant Setting. Would it be nice if it were ALCOA, owners of JAMALCO, our local Alumina Plant in Halse Hall, Clarendon.

Stay tuned to my blog for my next article as Google makes a push towards a prêt-a-porter design by 2015!