AB096. Potential use of telemedicine and teleproctoring in surgical practice

Background: Telementoring is a branch of telemedicine that enables two-way contact between a mentor and mentee. It is a rapidly growing area, facilitated in part by the fast pace of technology development. It was shown to be successful in the training of surgical mentees and has potential for the education of medical students. We aimed to introduce technology of telementoring into Midland Regional Hospital Tullamore (MRHT).

Methods: A web-based search was carried out to look for wearable technology that is capable of telementoring. This technology was then purchased, set up and trialled in the setting of MRHT.

Results: XpertEye Essential and Light solutions were purchased, in addition to Realwear HMT-1™ glasses with the financial aid of the Medical Education Liaison Group. The technology was successfully set up and trialled. Two-way audio and one-way video communication was established between the Realwear HMT-1™ glasses and an additional device within the hospital environment. Further features of the solution, such as annotations and conference calls, were also successfully tested.

Conclusions: We successfully introduced technology capable of telementoring into the environment of MRHT. This technology has great potential for the mentoring of both medical students and surgical trainees. More work is needed to fully optimise this technology and its teaching potential.

Keywords: Telemedicine; telementoring; teleproctoring; telestration