By: Victoria Brazil (@SocraticEM)
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(there are lots of hyperlinks in this post, so be sure to hover over the writing for links)
NB: I have no disclosures regarding any of the products mentioned here.
Sadly, I’ve never made it to the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show (CES). This annual Disneyland for tech nerds is where all the latest tech gadgets and trends are on show, including a Digital health stream, and its just wrapped up for 2024. Fortunately for those of us with FOMO, there are many online reviews to tell us about what’s hot this year.
Flying cars and AI powered cat doors aside, I think the trends at CES might have implications for our healthcare simulation and technology enabled learning. So here’s three to watch.
- AI… of course.
At CES, AI was apparently looking for uses in everything: mirrors, toothbrushes, cars and personal ‘rabbits’ …
For healthcare simulation, we’ve already seen early work on how AI can help us write simulation scenarios much faster, and maybe better. (Although there is also some well-placed scepticismfrom others, mostly focused on factual inaccuracy.) In an era of big data, scenario design (and curricular design more broadly) could be much more informed by practice data and analytics from electronic medical records; what do individuals and teams need to work on? AI (specifically large language models) may also have potential to help us in the debrief room. We know that certain types of questions from debriefers prompt more reflective and team centred responses in predictable ways. AI may be able to ‘listen’/ ‘watch’ our scenarios and debriefing conversations, and provide debriefers with effective prompts for conversation in real time.
- Amazing TVs
At CES, the latest television tech is a perennial obsession. Not surprising given that that the average American watches lots of TV. This year it was transparent and foldable TVs (the latter for a cool $200k)
For the mere mortals in health professions education? Its unlikely most of us will be buying a $200k folding screen for the tutorial room anytime soon. But for this kind of technology price points move fast, and maybe we should think more broadly about screens in education. Globally, people average 7 hours of screen time per day. We rely on screens for most of the structured and informal learning across the continuum of health professions education, but also rue the distraction screens represent. This insightful review from Deloitte gives insights into ‘screen business’ and made me reflect on being thoughtful not just about the OLED and LEDs in the screens but also their positioning (literally and metaphorically) in our education and learning.
- VR and gaming
Apple’s Vision Pro goes on sale on January 19. The promo video is too cute. Gaming and VR are also perennial favourites at CES.
I’ve been waiting for VR to reach prime time in health professions education for 20 years, but it’s always been ‘nearly there’. I think we might be nearly there again for some applications – some procedural skills training, avatar-based communication skills training and helping practitioners understand patient experience. We’re probably on the cusp of far more immersive video conferencing and collaboration. I think real time decision support with heads up display on your screen while wearing a VR head set to run your resuscitation is still a way off.
Gamification in health professions education is well established and can be very effective if thoughtfully designed . Gadgetry can help but only if it is based on the learning principles that we know are effective – spaced repetition, low volume/ high frequency practice, mistake informed challenges, leaderboards/ rewards, and social learning. Duo Lingo – the language learning App – remains the class leader for this in my opinion, and health professions education has a few aspirants e.g. QStream and other ‘microlearning’ platforms.
Looking forward to CES 2025.
Maybe next year I’ll go and see for myself 😊
vb
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