Egil Boisen

Human Factors Affecting the Patient’s Acceptance of Wireless Biomedical Sensors

In monitoring arrhythmia, the quality of medical data from the ECG sensors may be enhanced by being based on everyday life situations. Hence, the development of wireless biomedical sensors is of growing interest, both to diagnose the heart patient, as well as to adjust the regimen. However, human factors such as emotional barriers and stigmatization, may affect the patient’s behavior while wearing the equipment, which in turn may influence quality of data. The study of human factors and patient acceptance is important both in relation to the development of such equipment, as well as in evaluating the quality of data gathered from the individual patient. In this paper, we highlight some important aspects in patient acceptance by comparing results from a preliminary clinical trial with patients using a wireless ECG sensor for three days out-of-hospital service, to available published results from telehomecare projects, and discuss important aspects to be taken into account in future investigations.

Virtual Reality and Habitats for Learning Microsurgical Skills

The potential of Virtual Reality (VR) as a training tool in microsurgery has not yet been realized. This is surprising, since VR has been introduced with great success in neighbouring areas, such as laparoscopic surgery (Gallagher, 1999). This is regrettable for anyone, like the first author of this chapter, with a clinical background in microsurgery: how many futile training sessions on animals have been performed, how much faster could the novice doctors learn to master microsurgery, and ultimately how many human lives could have been spared if VR was an integral part of microsurgical training programs? This chapter will discuss attempts carried out at the Virtual Brain Group, Aalborg University, to remedy this crucial lack of proper training tools within microsurgery.