Google Glass didn’t go over well in the consumer space. But now it’s turned its eyes to the business market, looking to industries like manufacturing and healthcare for renewed success. Last week, Google unveiled Glass Enterprise Edition, a new version of the technology catered to the workplace. A recent blog post by the team at X (formerly known as Google X) detailed exactly what Google Glass is: “a very small, lightweight wearable computer with a transparent display that brings information into your line of sight.” Glass Enterprise Edition amps up the wearable’s initial capabilities. It allows users to “[a]ccess training videos, images annotated with instructions, or quality assurance checklists that help [people] get the job done, safely, quickly and to a higher standard,” according to the Glass website. Undeniably, that could have a positive impact on healthcare. And that’s why hospitals and health systems are catching on. One such system is San Francisco, California-based Dignity Health. By utilizing Glass and a “remote scribe” application from Augmedix, providers can have more direct contact with their patients. They simply wear the device and instead of taking notes themselves, they can have confidence that all the record keeping is being done for them. Dignity’s CMIO Davin Lundquist told X that Glass has significantly cut down on the amount of note taking providers have to do. In fact, the technology has reduced the amount of time clinicians spend on administrative work from 33 percent of their day to less than 10 percent. Sutter Health in Sacramento, California, is also relying on Glass and Augmedix to enhance the lives of its providers. Albert Chan, a physician and chief of digital patient experience at Sutter, told X that with the technology, clinicians have seen a two-hour decrease in the daily amount of time they have to focus on patient record keeping. In a recent blog post, Augmedix CEO and cofounder Ian Shakil said health systems such as Cincinnati, Ohio-based TriHealth; Englewood, Colorado-based Catholic Health Initiatives; Bangor-based Eastern Maine Medical Center and Wilmington, Delaware-based Christiana Care are making use of Glass Enterprise Edition and Augmedix as well. Glass Enterprise Edition’s release comes after good news for Glass startup Augmedix. In April 2016, the San Francisco-based company closed a $17 million funding round. Investments came from Sutter Health, Dignity Health, CHI and TriHealth. Photo: aislan13, Getty Images
Glass may not have fared well among consumers, but it has found a role in the healthcare industry. Dignity Health said its workplace-targeted Glass Enterprise Edition helps people "to get a job done safely and quickly". Augmedix -based Google uses Glass in combination with a "remote-scribe" application from San Francisco . Instead of taking notes themselves, healthcare providers can wear Glass to keep records automatically and significantly reduce administration time. Glass said the technology can be used to "access training videos, images annotated with instructions or quality assurance checklists".