New virtual reality medical training app LIFE uses HTC VIVE Focus Plus for training doctors and nurses to save lives.

14 November 2019 – Nairobi, Kenya – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Life-saving Instruction for Emergences (LIFE), a virtual reality (VR) medical training platform developed by doctors, nurses and researchers at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) in Kenya and Oxford University with support from HTC, has officially launched today.

LIFE allows healthcare workers to enter a realistic 3D virtual hospital on their own smartphones or using a virtual reality headset, such as the HTC Vive. Using the app, they can practice life-saving skills on virtual patients so that they are ready to act quickly and effectively in a real emergency. In low-resource settings such as Kenya, access to simulation training can be difficult and expensive so using VR for training could enable more healthcare workers to receive the high-quality training they need to save lives.

The LIFE project was selected as a grant recipient of the “VR for Impact” initiative, sponsored by HTC VIVE, at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The momentum from the support has enabled the LIFE team to create a new VR version of the LIFE app that runs on the ENGAGE platform, a virtual reality education platform developed by Immersive VR Education, and uses the new HTC VIVE Focus Plus headset.

The VR version of LIFE follows the launch of the smartphone version in April. The LIFE smartphone app is now being rolled out across Kenya through partnerships with medical and nursing schools and professional organisations such as the Kenya Paediatric Association. The platform has been extensively tested in beta, with thousands of healthcare workers already using the app on their smartphones.

Conrad Wanyama, a nurse from the KWTRP involved with the project and speaking at COINN about LIFE, said:

“We took a human-centred design approach to developing LIFE. We worked closely with nurses and doctors who have to deal with these types of emergencies and allowed them to test lots of early versions of the app.”

Naomi Muinga, a PhD student at the KWTRP, added:

“The nurses who tried out the system really appreciated how realistic the experience was. They could enter a 3D virtual hospital and practice resuscitating a newborn baby who was not breathing and carry out the steps needed to save her life.”

Dr Chris Paton, the lead researcher for LIFE from the University of Oxford, commented:

“The rapid adoption of smartphones by thousands of healthcare workers across Africa means that they now have the chance to access training that would have been too expensive to access using traditional face-to-face courses. By using immersive VR simulation training in combination with a personal smartphone app, the LIFE project has the potential to support healthcare worker training at scale.”

Kris Severson, Head of VR for Impact, HTC VIVE, stated:

“Through VR for Impact, we’re supporting developers who harness the immersive capabilities of VR to create positive change in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. The Life project is the next evolution in medical training in Africa and a perfect example of how VR can enact real change with tangible results in our communities worldwide.”

ENDS

For further details, images and videos, or requests for interview, please contact:

Nairobi, Kenya

Cynthia Mauncho, Head of Communication, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust, Research Programme

T: +254780547440 | E: CMauncho@kemri-wellcome.org

United Kingdom

Gregg Bayes-Brown, Marketing and Communications Manager, Oxford University Innovation

T: +44 (0)1865 280867 | E: Gregg.bayes-brown@innovation.ox.ac.uk

LIFE Project, Oxford

Dr Chris Paton, Group Head for Global Health Informatics at the Centre for Tropical Medicine, Oxford University

T: +44 (0)7552 698058 | E: chris.paton@ndm.ox.ac.uk

 

Naomi Muinga and Chris Paton recently published a paper for the Pathways to Prosperity Commission about how the LIFE team tested the VIVE Virtual Reality equipment. You can find that here:

https://pathwayscommission.bsg.ox.ac.uk/virtual-reality-for-medical-training

Notes to Editors

About LIFE

Life-saving Instruction for Emergences (LIFE) is a virtual reality and smartphone app delivering medical training through mobile and VR platforms. The platform was initially developed by clinicians and researchers at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme and the University of Oxford, and its development has been supported by HTC, Oxford University Innovation, GCRF, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Wellcome Trust, Saving Lives at Birth and Médecins Sans Frontières.

LIFE is available to download for free from www.oxlifeproject.org for smartphones and Virtual Reality headsets or search for “Life-saving Instruction for Emergencies” on the Google Play Store.

Follow the LIFE project on twitter @oxlifeproject.org

About the University of Oxford

The Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health at the University of Oxford is a collection of research groups permanently based in Oxford, in Africa (Kenya, Uganda and DRC) and in Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia and Nepal). Aiming to tackle infectious diseases, from malaria, TB and HIV to neglected tropical diseases and emerging infections, our research ranges from clinical studies to behavioural sciences, with capacity building integral to all of our activities.

Oxford University has been placed number 1 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the fourth year running, and at the heart of this success is our ground-breaking research and innovation.

Oxford is world-famous for research excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. Our work helps the lives of millions, solving real-world problems through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of our research sparks imaginative and inventive insights and solutions.

Through its research commercialisation arm, Oxford University Innovation, Oxford is the highest university patent filer in the UK and is ranked first in the UK for university spinouts, having created more than 170 new companies since 1988. Over a third of these companies have been created in the past three years.

About the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)-Wellcome Trust Research Programme 

The Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)-Wellcome Trust Research Programme was established in 1989, as a partnership between KEMRI, Oxford University and the Wellcome Trust. The Programme conducts basic, epidemiological, clinical, and health systems research in parallel, with results feeding directly into local and international health policy. KEMRI- Wellcome aims to expand the country’s capacity to conduct multidisciplinary research that is strong, sustainable and internationally competitive. https://kemri-wellcome.org/ 

About HTC VIVE

HTC VIVE is the premier virtual reality (VR) platform and ecosystem that creates true-to-life VR experiences for businesses and consumers. The VIVE ecosystem is built around premium VR hardware, software, and content. The VIVE business encompasses best-in-class XR hardware; VIVEPORT platform and app store; VIVE Enterprise Solutions for business customers; VIVE X, a $100M VR business accelerator; VIVE STUDIOS, an entertainment, gaming, and enterprise content studio; and VIVE ARTS for cultural initiatives. For more information on VIVE, please visit www.vive.com.

About Immersive VR Education

Immersive VR Education Ltd is an Ireland-based company creating a virtual reality (VR) education platform called Engage (stylised as “ENGAGE”) to transform distance learning.

The Engage platform is a type of virtual reality PowerPoint that is networked, recordable and editable by its users. Instead of using images on PowerPoint slides for your presentation, Engage uses 3D assets and environments to totally immerse its users.

Engage enables educators to create their own content, classes and courses so they can teach any student anywhere in the world in a virtual classroom.

Immersive VR Education are working closely with HTC, Oxford University, New Haven University, The Royal College of Surgeons and others to bring immersive content to the Engage platform.

Immersive VR Education also create showcase experiences to promote educational uses of VR. Their most recognized experience to date has been the Apollo 11 VR Experience which has won multiple awards and has proved hugely popular on many platforms including the HTC Vive.

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technologies are going to transform education globally in the coming years and Immersive VR Education is at the forefront of this revolution.

Twitter: @vreducation

Web: www.immersivevreducation.com

We’re pleased to announce that the iPhone beta of LIFE: Neonatal Resuscitation is now available for testing. Please download using TestFlight:

https://testflight.apple.com/join/9OZUKza9

By Conrad Wanyama

Kenya Paediatric Nurses Chapter (KPNC) is a professional association of neonatal, child and adolescent nurses in Kenya. KPNC holds an annual scientific conference every year in august, bringing together paediatric nursing colleagues and other partners who work with children for networking, learning and professional development. The 2018 KPNC annual scientific conference was held at Gelian Hotel, Machakos County, about 70km East of Kenya’s capital, Nairobi from 22^ndto 24^thaugust 2018.

LIFE project team (Conrad Wanyama and Naomi Muinga, both based at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Nairobi) were at the conference for the roll-out of the LIFE Mobile: Neonatal Resuscitation, a demo of LIFE VR: Neonatal Resuscitation, and beta testing of eHBB, a new low-cost VR module for LIFE that uses Google Cardboard VR headsets.

Activity 1: Plenary Presentation.

Conrad gave an overview of the LIFE project and the educational benefits of mobile-based simulated serious games as a form of learner-centred refresher training that enhances recall of key steps of emergency care. Conference delegates were guided on how to download the app on Google Play Store but were asked not to play the game yet in readiness for the challenge on day 3 of the conference (see below).

Activity 2: LIFE Mobile Challenge

The aim of the LIFE challenge was to give participants an opportunity to achieve meaningful goals by challenging them beyond their comfort zones. This exercise was based on the premise that ‘teaching is a planned experience which brings about a change in behaviour (the learning of a specified material which will result in a specified outcome’ (Pocket guide to teaching for medical educators, by Advanced Life Support Group & Resuscitation Council (UK), 2^nded.). We wanted to create a forum where learners desire to judge personal performance against that of others, a form of intrinsic motivation described by Malone and Lepper (1987) as social comparison. Participants played the game in groups of 3-10.

Activity 3: Exhibition sessions

We also ran demos at the exhibition site both for LIFE VR (using the VIVE virtual reality headset) and for user testing of a new eHBB VR module to get feedback from the players. LIFE eHBB uses a smartphone and a Google Cardboard.

 

You can download LIFE Mobile, with the first Neonatal Resuscitation scenario based on ETAT+ guidelines, from the Google Play Store.

 

The LIFE Project is being demonstrated at the WEF in Davos this week:

HTC VIVE and World Economic Forum Partner For The Future Of The “VR/AR For Impact” Initiative

Today, HTC VIVE announced a partnership with the World Economic Forum (WEF) to drive the VR/AR for Impact initiative forward, and to showcase its latest content at the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Impact Hub at the WEF 2018 in Davos.

Originally launched by HTC at WEF in 2017, VR/AR For Impact is a more than $10 Million program to drive VR and AR content and technologies that will create positive impact and change in support of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.  In collaboration with a core group of VR/AR leaders and the UN, WEF will drive the “VR/AR for Impact” initiative going forward, and as a core member of the group, HTC Vive will continue to design and create experiences as part of their collaborative, ongoing commitment to foster and champion the use of Virtual and Augmented Reality to educate and empower humanity.

“The challenges our world faces today have never been greater, and humanity needs a clearer understanding and guidance to help solve global issues,” said Cher Wang, Chairwoman and CEO, HTC. “Unlike any other medium, Virtual Reality is able to immerse the global audience in literally any experience, and can help us learn, empathize and transform the world. VR/AR for Impact is a unique way of driving critical awareness toward problems and solutions facing mankind.”

“We see so much untapped potential with VR/AR to drive positive outcomes for society in areas such as health and education, and we are looking forward to working with leaders in this space to build up this initiative in the coming years,” says Lauren Joseph, leader of the Electronics Industry Program at World Economic Forum.

 

VR/AR for Impact experiences shown this week at WEF 2018 include:

• OrthoVR aims to increase the availability of well-fitting prosthetics in low-income countries by using Virtual Reality and 3D rapid prototyping tools to increase the capacity of clinical staff without reducing quality. VR allows current prosthetists and orthosists to leverage their hands-on and embodied skills within a digital environment.
• The Extraordinary Honey Bee is designed to help deepen our understanding of the honey bee’s struggle and learn what is at stake for humanity due to the dying global population of the honey bee. Told from a bee’s perspective, The Extraordinary Honey Bee harnesses VR to inspire change in the next generation of honey bee conservationists.
• The Blank Canvas: Hacking Nature is an episodic exploration of the frontiers of bioengineering as taught by the leading researchers within the field. Using advanced scientific visualization techniques, the Blank Canvas will demystify the cellular and molecular mechanisms that are being exploited to drive substantial leaps such as gene therapy.
• LIFE (Life-saving Instruction For Emergencies) is a new mobile and VR platform developed by the University of Oxford that enables all types of health worker to manage medical emergencies. Through the use of personalized simulation training and advanced learning analytics, the LIFE platform offers the potential to dramatically extend access to life-saving knowledge in low-income countries.
• Tree is a critically acclaimed virtual reality experience to immerse viewers in the tragic fate that befalls a rainforest tree. The experience brings to light the harrowing realities of deforestation, one of the largest contributors to global warming.
• For the Amazonian Yawanawa, ‘medicine’ has the power to travel you in a vision to a place you have never been. Hushuhu, the first woman shaman of the Yawanawa, uses VR like medicine to open a portal to another way of knowing. AWAVENA is a collaboration between a community and an artist, melding technology and transcendent experience so that a vision can be shared, and a story told of a people ascending from the edge of extinction.

These experiences will be made available for all attendees at the World Economic Forum at the UN’s Sustainable Impact Hub on January 23^rd, 2018 on Promenade 72, Davos Platz in Switzerland. Awavena can be experienced in the main congress hall, Portals exhibition.

For more information on VR for Impact visit: https://vrforimpact.com/.

Come and work on the LIFE Project with us in Nairobi, Kenya. We’re looking for a talented mobile/VR/3D developer to join our growing team!

Apply here: http://careers.kemri-wellcome.org/vacancy/software-developer-mobile-and-vr-application-0 … 

Be quick! – applications close 29th Jan.

BBC Oxford News visited the LIFE project this week:

 

We’re participating in the VR in Education Workshop below – come along and try out LIFE VR!

Engage Workshop: Virtual Reality in Education

We’ve been demoing LIFE VR at CES this week. Today is the last day to try it out, so please come along at 2pm at the Alsace Ballroom at the Wynn hotel if you would like to try it out for yourself. Here’s our interview from yesterday (we’re on after Dr Oz!):

HTC Vive and virtual reality distance learning platform Engage to showcase the LIFE project from the University of Oxford. 

Oxford, UK and Las Vegas, US – 4^th January 2017 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Engage – a virtual reality (VR) education platform capable of giving hands on lessons anywhere in the world – is set to be used to showcase the Life-Saving Instruction for Emergencies (LIFE) project by Oxford University academics at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) conference 2017.

Developed by Immersive Education Ltd, the Engage platform (stylised as “ENGAGE”) uses VR platforms, including the HTC Vive (stylised as “VIVE”), to create interactive virtual classrooms. Each classroom can instruct up to 30 individuals simultaneously and offers avatar interaction, allowing instructors to be able to observe and provide feedback on a student’s work in real-time.

The LIFE Engage demo showcased at CES will be healthcare-focused, showing how the platform can be used to educate healthcare workers in developing countries on infant resuscitation techniques. At present, levels of infant mortality in Africa are so great that 1 in 10 children do not live to see their fifth birthday. Building on a gamified mobile app developed by LIFE, which is receiving business development support from Oxford University Innovation, the LIFE demo on the Engage platform aims to show how the level of emergency care available for infants can be improved through virtual distance learning.

The potential for Engage extends beyond medical training. In conjunction with its virtual reality classroom engagement offering, the Engage team have also developed the Immersive FX presenter system. Immersive FX gives instructors the ability to give virtual, interactive presentations in almost any setting conceivable, such as planetary sciences lessons on the surface of Mars or the sinking of the Titanic from the very deck of the ship.

Dr Chris Paton, Group Head for Global Health Informatics at the Centre for Tropical Medicine and who is presenting the LIFE demo at CES, said:

“A VR version of LIFE has the potential to augment both face-to-face training and the mobile version of the LIFE game. VR allows students in remote areas to connect with trainers in a virtual hospital ward where they can access equipment and practice performing tasks with a virtual instructor.”

Dan O’Brien, Vice President of Virtual Reality at HTC Vive, added:

“Education experiences are a critical component to delivering an immersive VR experience and building out the ever-growing Vive ecosystem. We built Vive to deliver the most immersive, room-scale VR experience on the market today. Organisations like Oxford University and Immersive help us meet this vision and we’re excited to see what LIFE Engage offers to the VR experience.”

CES attendees are encouraged to try out the LIFE Engage demo for themselves at the HTC Vive demo area at Wynn’s Alsace Ballroom from 2-3pm on Thursday 5th, Friday 6th and Saturday 7th.

ENDS

For more information or to arrange interview, please contact:

CES conference/United States

Dr Chris Paton, Group Head for Global Health Informatics at the Centre for Tropical Medicine, Oxford University

T: +44 (0)7552 698058 | E: chris.paton@ndm.ox.ac.uk

United Kingdom

Gregg Bayes-Brown, Marketing and Communications Manager, Oxford University Innovation

T: +44 (0)1865 280867 | E: gregg.bayes-brown@innovation.ox.ac.uk

Notes to editors

About University of Oxford Life-Saving Instruction for Emergencies (LIFE) Project

LIFE offers a way to rapidly scale-up access to the most current, locally relevant emergency or health practice guidance – even for isolated health workers.

• Transfers correct and clinically approved knowledge on new born and childhood emergency care
• Ensures a player can repeatedly demonstrate the correct cue-response decision sequences when faced with common emergency situations
• Provides graded levels of difficulty, enabling both low and high-skill players to be challenged
• Promotes competition between player and device and across players
• Can be played on low-cost smart-phones
• Can be linked to accredited professional development schemes
• Can track accreditation coverage and prompt retraining to ensure knowledge retention

The LIFE team have developed a mobile game that uses a 3D hospital that players can navigate through to play the scenario. The team is also exploring how the system could be delivered through the new HTC Vive virtual reality system.  The same 3D hospital is used but instead of navigating the scenario on a smartphone, the user can enter the hospitals in virtual reality, using a headset connected to a computer.  Users would access this type of system through a local training centre, and continue to play the game and keep their knowledge up-to-date though the smartphone versions of the game.

The LIFE project was funded through OxReach, the University of Oxford’s crowdfunding website, and was one of the 2016 winners of the Saving Lives at Birth Grand Challenge. The project is supported by the HTC, The Skoll Foundation, and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

The LIFE project was made possible with the support of Saving Lives at Birth and its partners, which include: the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada, the UK Government, and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). This press release was prepared by the University of Oxford and does not necessarily reflect the views of the Saving Lives at Birth partners.

Twitter: @oxlifeproject

Web: www.oxlifeproject.org

About Vive

Vive (stylised as “VIVE”) is a first-of-its-kind virtual reality platform developed by HTC and Valve for total immersion in virtual worlds. Designed from the ground up for room-scale VR and true-to-life interactions, Vive delivers on the promise of VR with game-changing technology and best-in-class content. Vive has been recognised with over 65 awards and wide critical acclaim since its unveiling in 2015. For more information, visit www.VIVE.com.

About Immersive VR Education

Immersive VR Education Ltd is an Ireland-based company creating a virtual reality (VR) education platform called Engage (stylised as “ENGAGE”) to transform distance learning.

The Engage platform is a type of virtual reality PowerPoint that is networked, recordable and editable by its users. Instead of using images on PowerPoint slides for your presentation, Engage uses 3D assets and environments to totally immerse its users.

Engage enables educators to create their own content, classes and courses so they can teach any student anywhere in the world in a virtual classroom.

Immersive VR Education are working closely with HTC, Oxford University, New Haven University, The Royal College of Surgeons and others to bring immersive content to the Engage platform.

Immersive VR Education also create showcase experiences to promote educational uses of VR. Their most recognized experience to date has been the Apollo 11 VR Experience which has won multiple awards and has proved hugely popular on many platforms including the HTC Vive.

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technologies are going to transform education globally in the coming years and Immersive VR Education is at the forefront of this revolution.

Twitter: @vreducation

Web: www.immersivevreducation.com

About Oxford University Innovation

Oxford University Innovation supports innovation activities across all University Divisions, managing technology transfer and consulting activities, and providing an innovation management service to clients around the world.

We provide access to technology from Oxford researchers through intellectual property licensing, spinout company formation and material sales, and to academic expertise through our Consulting Services team. The New Venture Support & Funding team supports investors or donors with an interest in early-stage ventures, and manages the Oxford Angels Network.

Our Startup Incubator supports members and ex-members of the University who wish to start or grow entrepreneur-driven ventures that are not University spinouts.

Oxford University Innovation is the highest university patent filer in the UK and is ranked 1st in the UK for university spinouts, having created over 140 new companies in 25 years. In the last reported financial year, we completed 529 licenses and consulting agreements. Isis Enterprise, our innovation management consultancy, works with university, government and industrial clients from offices around the world.

For updates on innovations from Oxford, follow Oxford University Innovation on LinkedIn and Twitter or subscribe at http://innovation.ox.ac.uk/about/contact-us/#enquiry