Investigating the Use of Head Mounted Devices for Remote Cooperation and Guidance during the Treatment of Wounds

Abstract

Professional caregivers often face complex situations in which they need the support of a colleague or a specialist. This is especially necessary for caregivers during their training or with less practice in certain tasks. Due to time and space restrictions, colleagues or specialists are not always available for local support. Remote support by streaming videos to a remote helper has been discussed in healthcare domains as a so-called teleconsultation. However, little is known about how to apply teleconsultation in care. We conducted a study with caregivers and remote helpers to compare head mounted devices (HMDs) for teleconsultation in care to two alternative solutions using smartphones. We found that despite lacking familiarity, HMDs have good potential for remote support in care, and that creating video streams with smartphones is not preferable for teleconsultations. We suggest that ideal support needs to balance freedom and guidance and suggest how such support needs to be further explored.