MedAssist Live is an app where augmented reality (a digital image of reality) can be used to provide help remotely. In the Living Lab Social Domain and Technology are investigating The Hague University of Applied Sciences, the municipality of The Hague and MedAssist.online which application options are useful and of added value for the care and social domain to develop further.

MedAssist.online is the winner of the SocialTech Startup Network Series 2022, a program in which the best start-ups in the country are guided in the development of their innovation. The jury saw a lot of potential in MedAssist Live for care and support in the social domain.

Two way augmented reality

With the MedAssist Live app, a healthcare provider or informal caregiver can provide virtual help to someone who needs support. Using two-way augmented reality, the live image of one user is added to the live image of the other user, creating a merged image. This allows the care provider or informal carer to point out things or pretend that he or she is 'live'. The app is already being used in the medical domain at sea and aviation to provide remote (medical) assistance.

Research

The aim of the research is to identify a number of promising applications of MedAssist Live for care and support at home. Small pilot studies are carried out with a selection of these to gain insight into the viability of these applications in practice. Two pilots were run during the research. The first was with Vegro where the app was used to provide remote assistance for repairing technological tools. The second pilot was in collaboration with Pieter van Foreest. Here, a specialized wound consultant could help the district nurse with caring for and bandaging wounds.

Results

MedAssist Live is of added value in situations where pointing is necessary. These situations do not occur very often in daily healthcare practice as tested in the pilots. MedAssist Live is suitable for support regarding technological tools, not so much to communicate with residents, but mainly to reduce repairs and waiting times at suppliers. It is worth exploring the application possibility further. MedAssist Live especially has added value in situations where someone needs to be taken 'by the hand' or needs concrete instructions. These situations certainly exist in the social domain, but not so much to directly support residents or healthcare workers. This means that opportunities lie mainly in the services provided by suppliers and maintenance and repair services.

Following the investigations, MedAssist has made improvements to the app. MedAssist has also been approached by other healthcare institutions to further investigate the possibilities. Read the full research report here.