First university installs PORTL holographic display

The University of Central Florida has become the first higher education institution to install a human-sized 4K holographic display from PORTL.

The device, which uses transparent LCD embedded in a lightbox, will be used for medical education and has been partly funded by a $75,0000 grant from US health services provider Brooks Rehabilitation.

Holoportation specialist PORTL was founded in 2019 and its solutions have already appeared at live events such as Comic-Con, the Saturn Awards, the televised iHeartMusic Festival, and the 2020 Emmys Red Carpet.

At the University of Central Florida its system has been rebranded as “Dr Hologram” and it will be used for patient simulation, to increase the variety of conditions that students can learn about. The system enables the use of prerecorded and live holographic patient videos. In addition, the university plans to make it available for medical care in rural areas.

“With this new technology, we are able to provide a deeper experience, introducing students to a wide variety of patients at different severity levels through hologram technology, both live or pre-recorded, and have a very true-to-life interaction to teach our future healthcare providers humanistic care,” said Bari Hoffman, associate dean of clinical affairs for the College of Health Professions and Sciences, who led the project.

A university press release said student learning had previously typically been limited to pictures and videos of patients, or relied on volunteers to come to class. Adding the hologram technology would not just broaden the variety of patients that students can learn from and bridge the gap when in-person interactions are not possible or cost-prohibitive. The recordings would also offer a better way of standardising patient interactions to assess student competencies.

Because the hologram is more lifelike, it is more engaging for students who are practising their skills. Research on the use of simulation in healthcare education supports the notion that the more “real” the simulation, the more engaged students become, and the better learning outcomes they have.

The technology allows students to see and examine the whole patient and pick up on nonverbal cues that could be missed with tools that have a limited view, like a video conference call. It also provides a means for students to be exposed to patients who are immune-compromised without posing a risk to the patient’s health, while still enabling students to get a full view of the patient.

“We are gratified that our vision of connecting the world through holoportation is now taking root in healthcare education with this historic deployment with the University of Central Florida,” said David Nussbaum, CEO of PORTL Inc. ”Our strategic partnership with Dr. Hologram now makes it easy for educators and healthcare leaders to further modernise their systems that can positively impact their organisations and the communities they support.”