Integration of Head-Up Display Technology as an Assisting Tool for Paramedics

Abstract: When paramedics arrive at an accident site there are a lot of complex variables that they must keep in mind when making decisions. Thus, a problem of too much information presented at once makes the decision-making harder. To aid paramedics, smart glasses can be used to streamline the workflow and present relevant information immediately. Attempts at implementing smart glasses within prehospital care have previously been made. However, with no extensive research regarding what an implementation of how the user interface could look like has been presented. In addition, providing paramedics with optimal information to aid in decision making. Thus the goal of this thesis is to develop an Android application for the Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 to visualise a patient's vital signs to aid paramedics to focus more on treating the patient. A limitation of the project was to only focus on the visualisation of the following vital parameters were focused: pulse from ECG, SpO2, EtCO2, and NiBP. To determine what would be demanded from the application, interviews with paramedics of varying seniority ranging from 7 to 23 years experience, were conducted. The paramedics interviewed were from different regions within Sweden and the UK. This gave a generalised understanding of how paramedics work and what would be desired by paramedics from smart glasses as an assisting tool. The Android application used a Wi-Fi Direct connection with the MobiMed Patient Unit which was transmitting the patient's vital sign data. The data was packaged in a JSON file and then transmitted over User Datagram Protocol to the Google Glass. The data was visualised with a focused layout of only one vital sign showing. In addition, a dual view where two vitals are shown simultaneously was created. The implementation was then run through different experiments to ensure that the glasses would be able to perform under relevant circumstances that could occur at an accident site. Finally, several topics for future development and use cases for the project in pre-hospital and hospital care were explored.