San Diego-based healthcare group Sharp HealthCare announced the launch of a Spatial Computing Center of Excellence in its Prebys Innovation and Education Center that will focus its development efforts on utilizing the Apple Vision Pro augmented reality headset to enhance patient care.

Sharp is partnering with EHR vendor Epic and Dutch information analytics firm Elsevier on the project, which will explore how spatial computing could amplify effectiveness and productivity within various specialties and clinical roles.

The center's multidisciplinary research team will also evaluate the potential impact spatial computing could have on collaboration, education and treatments, and explore its use across various settings in healthcare, from the operating room to bedside care.

The center will tap into the expertise of physicians and nurses alongside software developers, end-user device architects and digital experience product managers to determine the activities and workflows that could be best enhanced by the Vision Pro.

The organization said it plans additional partnerships with external partners to develop and test solutions for spatial computing in the healthcare ecosystem.

"Using Apple Vision Pro, you can immediately imagine the amazing and far-reaching implications of this technology for the practice and delivery of medicine," Chris Howard, president and chief executive of Sharp HealthCare, said in a statement. "Sharp has long been committed to transforming the healthcare experience, and Vision Pro is indeed a game changer, so much so that we created a center of excellence dedicated to this effort."

THE LARGER TREND

Immersive experiences and spatial computing applications could bring multiple benefits to care providers and patients.

Earlier this month Visage Imaging unveiled Visage Ease VP, an immersive imaging platform compatible with the Vision Pro. The platform is designed to enhance radiologists' diagnostic readings and workflow through cloud-based, AI-enabled enterprise imaging software.

Cedars-Sinai has also utilized the headset to develop Xaia, an AI-powered digital therapy platform aimed at assisting individuals dealing with pain, anxiety, depression and addiction, and offering immersive meditation spaces.

In November 2023, Jolly Good, a Japanese medical VR provider, announced the development of a VR-based cognitive behavioral therapy program for the Vision Pro, aimed at complementing chronic pain treatment with opioids or offering an alternative nondrug therapy.