Today undergraduate students in the Introduction to Health Informatics visited two separate and very different locations to see how health informatics is applied in the field. They spent the morning at the UBC hospital to program scenarios into virtual patients and also headed to the TELUS Innovation Centre downtown, where students got a sneak peak at emerging and existing technologies that can be used for healthcare at home.
The students programmed various medical scenarios into the lifelike virtual patients which have realistic pulse/ breath etc. for their peers to practice managing (evil sniggers were heard as groups programmed in vomiting). The exercise was part of an exploration of technologies in health for education and training purposes.
At the TELUS Innovation Centre, students got to see a variety of home-care innovations around telehealth, practitioner communication and home monitoring.
The tour is one that eHealth Summer Camp high-school students will also undertake during their week-long exploration of eHealth. Camps are scheduled in July and August.