We’ve already heard numerous stories praising Google Glass in a clinical setting. Today, we have another such example, one in which Google’s wearable may have even saved the lives of several poison victims in a hospital ED.

The story comes from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, where researchers used the Glass on a test of toxicology consults, evaluating patients while a secure video feed was established with a supervising consultant.

In each of the 18 cases, the supervising consultant guided the resident by means of text messages shown on the eyeglasses. Additionally, residents had access to images of medicine bottles, EKGs and other information on Glass as they worked with the patients.

According to the researchers, 89 percent of the cases were deemed successful by the consulting toxicologist, making the encounter better through the use of Google Glass. Also, the residents reported being more confident in diagnosing cases, while the use of Google Glass changed management of patient care in more than half of the cases.

The procedure involved supervising consultant guiding the resident by means of text messages shown on the Glass.In fact, researchers reported that six patients received antidotes which they wouldn’t get if the residents had not used Google Glass to support their diagnosis.

“Placing an expert at the virtual bedside of the patient has huge advantages,” Peter R. Chai, MD, a Toxicology Fellow at UMass Medical School, told Medicalxpress.com. “It brings a specialist to patients that might not otherwise have access to that kind of expertise. Because Google Glass is relatively unobtrusive to patients, can be operated hands free and is extremely portable, it has a distinct advantage over traditional telemedicine platforms.”

All information transmitted via Google Glass passed through the Pristine Eyesight platform, which encrypted the data.

[Via: mHealthNews]