"The most critical challenge is to provide surgical expertise into the battlefield when it is most required," said Juan Wachs, Purdue's James A. and Sharon M. Tompkins Rising Star Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering, who led the project team. "Even without having highly experienced medical leaders physically co-located in the field, with this technology we can help minimize the number of casualties while maximizing treatment at the point of injury."

The Purdue technique involves using augmented reality tools to connect health care professionals in remote areas with more experienced surgeons and physicians around the world. The AR headset worn by the mentee in the field is designed to replace current telestrator technology, which uses a separate video screen and freehand sketches to provide feedback.

The team presented the work at the 2018 Military Health System Research Symposium, held Aug. 20-23 in Kissimmee, Florida.

Watch a video of how the system works at http://bit.ly/ARHealth-Purdue.

From Purdue News: Purdue develops ‘augmented reality’ tools to help health care workers save lives in war zones, natural disasters, rural areas; Wired: How Technology is Helping Surgeons Collaborate from Across the World; and EurekAlert: Purdue develops 'augmented reality' tools to help health care workers in war zones