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The next time you visit a hospital, you may well notice that all the medical staff are wearing glasses. Not ordinary glasses, but Google Glasses. These smart glasses work with face recognition and provide hospital personnel with patient data such as test results and medication information right in front of their eyes. So they no longer need to refer to paper-based medical records. Telemedicine - the use of use of electronic communications to exchange medical information from one site to another - is also possible, enabling doctors to exchange information with other clinics and to consult experts for a second opinion.
This video shows one example of how smart glasses could be used in the health care environment. First, the nurse checks the route plan displayed on her smart glasses and then sets off with her medication tray. When she enters a patient's room, she scans the bar code on the patient's wristband and immediately receives information about which medication that particular patient needs to take. If she has any questions, she can contact and speak to the responsible physician immediately via the glasses. At the end of the working day, all the data stored on her smart glasses is transferred to the IT system.
There are some obvious benefits here: Not only do medical staff have their hands completely free to treat their patients, but they also have real-time access to patient data and can make notes in speech and image form as they make their rounds. All this is made possible by SAP HANA Enterprise Cloud, which provides access to all the relevant data and processes from the smart glasses in real time – even when the wearer is on the move.
Google Glass in the enterprise: Gartner spots business value
Market researchers at Gartner anticipate that the total annual savings for companies who adopt smart glasses could rise to more than one billion US dollars within three to five years. To find out how, read this article: The Benefits of Smart Glasses.
Here, Gartner lists "virtual assistance" as one of the benefits of Google Glass technology; this includes the use of smart glasses to display guided 3D instruction manuals. An SAP Innovation video shows a possible future application of this technology that will strike a chord with anyone who has ever had to follow the assembly instructions supplied by a well-known Swedish furniture store. After some initial difficulties, it eventually occurs to expectant parents Marc and Abby to follow 3D instructions on their iPad to help them construct a crib for their new baby - and they complete the job in no time at all. SAP HANA is responsible for updating the data in real time, allowing the on-screen representation of the crib to adapt according to the viewing angle.
Gartner foresees smart glasses having their biggest impact in the manufacturing (see blog Data Glasses: SAP goes wearable) and oil and gas industries. This is because smart glasses not only provide data to help employees complete their tasks, but they also leave them with both hands free to carry out manual activities. They can even help employees learn new methods and equipment, sometimes even replacing on-site training.
