Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER FEBRUARY 2018 6 NEWS Compensation Surveys Incentive Programs Job Descriptions Job Evaluation Pay Equity Performance Appraisal Salary Administration Sales Compensation (416) 498-7800 info@resourcecorporation.com www.resourcecorporation.com COMPENSATION CONSULTING ipm The Professional Trainer Full Accreditation Program on Mixed Media USB Flash Drive Institute of Professional Management 2210-1081 Ambleside Drive, Ottawa, ON, K2B 8C8 Tel: (613) 721-5957 Toll Free: 1-888-441-0000 Details at : www.workplace.ca/CanHR-Reporter.html This new mixed media package includes a USB Flash Drive with over 200 minutes of audio visual clips, participant workbook and exam. valid until February 28, 2018 The goal of this program is to teach participants how to assess the need for training, develop the material, prepare the handouts, deliver the content and evaluate the results. Successful completion of all 3 Modules makes you eligible for membership in the Canadian Professional Trainers Association, CPTA, with the RPT (Registered Professional Trainer) designation. $800 regular $945 ... save $145 Google Glass returns as workplace tool Saskatoon Health Region uses device to better serve remote communities BY JOHN DUJAY REMEMBER Google Glass? e tech giant made a big splash a few years ago when it introduced a smart-glass wearable computer product. But for consumers, the idea didn't really take hold and it went away in 2015. Recently, the company re-intro- duced the product and, this time around, the product is being tar- geted to business users under the name Google Glass Enterprise Edi- tion (GGEE). "Workers in many fields, like manufacturing, logistics, field ser- vices and health care, find it useful to consult a wearable device for information and other resources while their hands are busy. at's why we've spent the last two years working closely with a network of more than 30 expert partners to build customized software and business solutions for Glass for people in these fields," said Jay Ko- thari, project lead of Glass, in a July 18, 2017, blog post. The new product promises a "small, lightweight, wearable computer with a transparent dis- play that brings information into your line of sight," said Kothari, and can give workers access to manuals, schematics and other technical documents at all times while on the job, eliminating the need to put "down tools and climbing up and down ladders to consult paper instructions in be- tween steps." Saskatchewan reaches remote communities For the medical profession, doctors are using the tool to take notes and hopefully pay better attention to patients, according to Google. And in Saskatchewan, Google Glass Enterprise is being employed as a remote- treatment tool. Four years ago, the govern- ment there created a program that placed robotic interfaces in 11 communities as part of its "remote presence medicine" to allow a physician in Saskatoon to take care of a patient in real time thousands of kilometres away, according to Ivar Mendez, uni- fied head of the Department of Surgery at the University of Sas- katchewan and the Saskatoon Health Region. Saskatchewan has 1.2 million people, but 40 per cent live in rural areas and in "truly isolated com- munities," said Mendez, and for those who want access to doctors, it requires "tremendous effort to come even for things that are elec- tive and not emergency." So Mendez considered Google Glass as an option. "(I thought) 'Instead of having a robot in a community up north, can we have wearable technol- ogy, where the nurse or the fam- ily physician can interact with the expert in the tertiary centre in Saskatoon?'" said Mendez. "is is where we started ex- ploring with the Google Glass." When the Enterprise Edition was introduced, Mendez and the province partnered with a U.S.-based company, Hodei Technology, that produced a version of GGEE called Gemini that allows for remote communication through the wearable computing tool. "e key feature will allow, for example, a nurse in an emergency room in a northern community, together with an expert sur- geon who could see that patient through the nurse's eyes, and they can not only see through the nurse's eyes but also they could communicate with the nurse and they could communicate with the patient," said Mendez. Despite the device's battery limitations, the remote locations all have two GGEE units charg- ing and when they are needed, the nurse "puts the GG on her head, and the GG transmits di- rectly through the tower that is in the room to the expert in Sas- katoon, who can see what the nurse is seeing and, in that way, you are able to examine a patient and make a decision in real time while you are a thousand kilome- tres away," he said. For wound treatment, the tool has proved invaluable, according to Mendez. "For example, if you want to send the doctor a picture or a video of the wound of a patient, you know exactly what you are transmitting because you can see it in the glass itself," he said. "We are very surprised and positive about this because we feel that it works very well." Future uses envisioned by Mendez could include paramed- ics wearing GGEE and automati- cally transmitting patient infor- mation to the hospital while en route, or for medical education, said Mendez. "When we evaluate a student in terms of their ability to see a pa- tient, for example, we have rooms where there are cameras. But now with the Google Glass, students can wear the glasses and we will be able to see really in real time what- ever the student is doing — even the movements of the student." Augmented reality considerations While GGEE is new, it's not the first of its kind, according to Isa- bel Pedersen, associate profes- sor and Canada research chair in digital life, media and culture at the University of Ontario In- stitute of Technology (UOIT) in Oshawa, Ont. "Augmented-reality headsets had been used in manufacturing already for quite a while before Google Glass or even Enterprise was proposed by Google." Bell Canada was an early adopter with its Xybernaut pro- gram in the early 2000s, she said, when about 300 technicians used a wearable product that pro- vided instant access to technical information. The University of Saskatchewan and Saskatoon Health Region are using a version of Google Glass Enterprise Edition to provide better service to the province's remote communities. Credit: University of Saskatchewan TECHNOLOGY > pg. 18 "ey can not only see through the nurse's eyes but they could also communicate with the nurse, and they could communicate with the patient."

• Cover