The Leeds XR Health Hub (LXR Health Hub) is a joint venture between the Innovation Pop Up at Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust and the University of Leeds’ Centre for Immersive Technologies, with funding for the devices provided by Leeds Hospitals Charity .
The LXR Health Hub will support the development of technical expertise among staff members to create in-house immersive training solutions to unmet needs they see on the clinical frontlines themselves. The aims of the hub are outlined below:
- Provide equipment for staff led innovation projects
- Training and device support including support on developing bespoke applications
- Create a network of XR leads embedded within the Trust
- Run hackathons to develop novel XR solutions for unmet needs
What are immersive technologies?
Immersive technologies or eXtended Reality (XR) is where digital or virtual information is merged with information from the real world and includes virtual reality (VR) augmented reality (AR) or mixed reality (MR). Each can be integrated with a range of applications that create different experiences for different use cases.
Virtual reality provides a fully immersive experience through the use of a headset. This allows the user to experience a virtual world in 360 degrees.
Augmented reality overlays digital information on to the real world but is not fully immersive. A common example of this are photograph filters as used by Snapchat and Instagram.
Mixed reality has digital objects and real world objects co-existing and interacting with each other. For example you can have a digital object displayed in front of you that you can interact with and manipulate.
As highlighted in the 2019 Topol Review, we need to ensure the workforce is prepared to deliver the digital future of healthcare including the use of immersive technologies. To do this, rigorous evidence must be generated to inform the way teams are trained to use this technology and deliver care.
Existing evidence shows that these immersive simulation environments provide effective educational tools for non-technical skills, team working and demonstrations of complex interventions, as they can be more fully appreciated and cognitively internalised.
Requesting equipment
There are a range of XR technologies available including VR and AR to demo and use immersive content. Equipment available include; PICO 4 VR, Magic Leap, HoloLens and head mounted displays for smartphones.
To empower staff to generate their own immersive content, there is a laptop and cameras with VR video editing software that Trust members can use to create their own videos.
Any member of the trust will be able to hire equipment and generate or use immersive content. Please complete the following form to request devices for your innovation project.
If your request is granted, you will be required to complete the loan agreement form that will be emailed to you. If you have any questions related to equipment requests, or would like to see the headset prior to putting in a request, please email [email protected]
Training and orientation for XR devices
If you have not used a XR headset or device before and are putting a request to use one of the devices, we are offering regular training and orientation sessions on how to set up and use the devices within the Trust.
We also encourage colleagues to attend this training if they are curious about how to use the devices, but don’t have a specific innovation project in mind as the training will also provide examples of how the devices are being currently used in the Trust.