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ORLANDO -- Google Glass didn't exactly take the world by storm, as tech prognosticators told us it would, but the technology could end up playing an important role in bridging the information gap between first responders and hospital-based medical personnel, a well-known critical care specialist said here Sunday.
The is being used experimentally in several sites in and outside of the U.S. to facilitate live-streaming of videos from paramedics caring for patients en route to hospitals to the clinicians who will treat them once they arrive.
The observation was made at an afternoon presentation on the future of critical care medicine by ICU specialist , of Erasme University Hospital, Brussels, Belgium, at the .
"We can communicate important information using Google Glass," he said. "I have tried it myself for this and it works quite well."
Vincent noted that technological advances are poised to transform the practice of critical care medicine in many important ways, which will lead to improved patient care.
"In the past we have been confronted with many wires," he said. "In the future we will get rid of these wires and have a lot more wireless equipment. These various instruments at the bedside will be talking to each other and interacting with each other."
The role of paramedics and other ambulance-based medical personnel will continue to grow as technological advances make it even easier to accurately diagnose, and in many cases, treat patients prior to hospital arrival.
"We now have ambulances equipped with CT scanners and we can administer thrombolysis before arriving at the hospital," he said. "This is certainly something that we will further develop in the future. We have time in the ambulance to do many things, especially when distances are long."
Not all of Vincent's predictions regarding the future management of critically ill patients involved cutting-edge technology
Once at the hospital, patients would be better served by improved interaction between emergency and critical care physicians, he said. He added that nurses and even family members of patients are uniquely positioned to identify a major killer in the ICU -- sepsis.
"There have been a number studies showing how nurses really make a difference in reduced mortality rates by identifying at-risk patients early," he said. "Nurses like to be involved, and they should be. And in the future the relatives will play a more important role than today in patient management."
And he said the goal of getting critically ill patients out of their beds will increasingly be recognized as an important strategy in the treatment of patients in the ICU.
"Today patients are still kept in their beds, but that will change in the future. Exercise for all," he said, adding that even patients on respirators and those who are otherwise immobilized can often exercise with the help of a physiotherapist.
"They should leave their beds. They should leave the ICU, he said. "(Exercise) can shorten the duration of the hospital stay for these patients. They should go outside ... That is the hospital of tomorrow."