GIGXR SECURES INVESTMENT FROM NORTHWEST PERMANENTE PHYSICIANS’ ENTITY: PERMANENTE HEALTH CARE VENTURES (aka SIDNEY): Strikes Content Partnership to Develop Mixed Reality Simulation Training for Cardiac Emergencies

Investment underscores demand for mixed reality healthcare training; supports GigXR in scaling product suite and platform for delivering mixed reality content

New simulation training to improve assessment, judgement, and teamwork for healthcare professionals; extends top-quality CPR/AED training for introductory learners

LOS ANGELES & PORTLAND, Ore.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–GigXR, a global provider of eXtended Reality (XR) solutions for healthcare and clinical training, announced today that it has secured a strategic investment and partnership with a subsidiary of Northwest Permanente P.C., the largest physician-led, multispecialty group practice in Oregon and SW Washington, to develop Mixed Reality (MR) teaching and training simulations for both healthcare professionals and introductory learners starting with Basic Life Support (BLS) and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ALS). The subsidiary, Permanente Health Care Ventures, aka Sidney, will provide physician consulting to GigXR to create state-of-the-art teaching and training simulations delivered through its XR solutions.

Today’s cardiac emergency training requires learners to use rubber, unrealistic static mannequins. The new training simulations co-created by Permanente Health Care Ventures aka Sidney and GigXR use mixed reality, which merges real-world physical environments with hyper-realistic digital elements, to present learners with life-like talking and walking patient holograms “experiencing” cardiac arrest to interact with and practice real-time, life-saving treatment. Patient holograms can also be overlaid onto any mannequin to make practicing chest compressions or using a defibrillator even more life-like.

“Speed, accuracy and teamwork are critical to providing lifesaving care during a cardiac emergency; training has to be top-quality for every person involved, individually and as a group. Conventional methods such as expensive mannequins cannot simulate the sense of urgency and teamwork of real-life BLS/ACLS – mixed reality adds both an incredible level of realism and collaboration to close critical training gaps. By partnering with GigXR, we’re allowing learners to practice real-time emergency care in the metaverse just as they would as a healthcare professional in the hospital or even as a family member at home.” said Patricia Ramos, MD, MCRP, Medical Director, Center for Innovative Medical Simulation, and Senior Emergency Physician at NWP.

The partnership between Permanente Health Care Ventures, aka Sidney and GigXR will drive development of acute care simulations to expand GigXR’s catalogue of hyper-realistic mixed reality training applications. By leveraging GigXR’s cutting-edge technical expertise in building holographic patient scenarios and the platform to deliver them, Permanente Health Care Ventures, aka Sidney will open up new and unprecedented access to the truest-to-life emergency training tools guided by its elite team of medical experts.

Instructors will be able to use different modules to build on skills, for example:

• The first module will mimic task trainers for learning manual skills, such as hand placement and depth of compressions, ratio of compressions to breaths and proper placement of defibrillator pads. With MR, the training will have a holographic instructor that can help learners see exactly where to place their hands, show them exactly how deep the compressions should go and even give real-time feed to the learner if they are performing the techniques correctly.
• The second module will allow individual or group learners to apply the manual skills learned from the first module within a real-time hyper-realistic scenario. For example, a team of users will interact with a holographic patient that progresses from chest pain to full cardiac arrest requiring Basic Life Support (BLS) techniques. The team will then be required to real time work together to perform the manual techniques of chest compressions, check pulse, use a defibrillator, etc.
• The third module will be for medical professionals to practice Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) that will include a complex and ever-evolving scenario with drugs needed to be pushed, chest compressions, chest tubes, and other advanced procedures.

These will be the first of many modules available to and through the physicians of Permanente Health Care Ventures, aka Sidney and its associated professional corporation of physicians and clinicians, Northwest Permanente and GigXR’s global customer base of nursing and medical schools, teaching hospitals and high-education institutions. Dr. Ramos and GigXR will also be speaking about the early development of these modules and mixed reality’s impact on training innovation at next week’s IMSH conference on Tuesday, January 18, 2022 at 4pm Pacific Standard Time.

“Teaching CPR using mixed reality greatly enhances the realism of the scenarios which helps learners better visualize and apply training,” added Ramos. “Ultimately, it improves overall learning, knowledge retention and judgement to make them more confident and proficient in real life. For a non-medical professional practicing how to handle these scenarios, which can be incredibly intense and shocking, it is going to make life altering differences for those suffering a cardiac emergency outside of a hospital or clinical environment. For the medical professional, these MR experiences are going to allow them to enhance their acute care skills in the most hyper-realistic, safe-to-fail environments.”

With over 5.4 million people certified in CPR, and many renewal protocols requiring yearly retraining, Permanente Health Care Ventures’ (aka Sidney’s) partnership to create new simulation training has the potential to positively impact millions more in need. It also meets demand for enhanced realism, which is driving a predicted 47.6% CAGR in the overall mixed reality market from 2021-26, and with medicine and education both requiring scalable, global training resources, makes GigXR a prime investment.

“Permanente Health Care Ventures’ (aka Sidney’s) investment strategy is unique – we look beyond the ROI to something I’d describe as a ‘return on outcomes’” said [Dr. Micah Thorp DO, President, Permanente Health Care Ventures (aka Sidney). “Investing in GigXR represents our commitment to improving outcomes for our patients and the larger community. GigXR has built the infrastructure to support the globalization of high-quality healthcare training and lower the barriers to resources – we’re thrilled to join them in accelerating innovation and access for tomorrow’s top-quality patient care.”

GigXR’s platform allows instructors wearing a Microsoft HoloLens headset to evolve scenarios, move and add content, change the hologram patient’s vitals, and watch all actions of the users in real-time. The platform allows learners to use either real-world or mixed reality medical tools, listen to accurate sounds such as breathing and heart rate and see the patient’s charts on-screen. Additionally, GigXR’s platform extends accessibility so that users can view all of these scenarios real time with mobile devices such as any augmented reality (AR) enabled iOS and Android device.

“We are honored to partner with Permanente Health Care Ventures, (aka Sidney),” said David King Lassman, Founder and CEO at GigXR. “Their multispecialty expertise will allow us to build the most accurate, robust acute care content possible, while the investment not only fuels our rapid growth but in-depth sector knowledge. At GigXR, we are building the mixed reality training tools and platform just as fast as vital medical training needs evolve – this partnership is a milestone in globalizing vital technology to support it.”

GigXR and Permanente Health Care Ventures, (aka Sidney) plan to launch the holographic simulations later this year. For more information on GigXR, visit www.GigXR.com or email sales@gigxr.com. For more information on Permanente Health Care Ventures aka Sidney, contact at info@sidneyhealth.com

About GigXR

GigXR is a provider of reality (XR) learning systems for instructor-led teaching and training that enhances learning outcomes for medical and nursing schools, hospitals and higher education and the Department of Defense. GigXR’s Immersive Learning System includes a growing catalogue of mixed reality applications that run on a robust platform, designed to break through the limitations of conventional 2D learning resources, by placing true-to-life 3D simulations and teaching tools in a collaborative physical space using the Microsoft HoloLens 2.

GigXR’s flagship products, HoloPatient and HoloHuman, use volumetric video capture and hyper-realistic 3D models to create safe-to-fail environments in which medical and nursing students can practice vital diagnostic, communication, and clinical reasoning skills. GigXR is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA with global customers on five continents. To learn more about GigXR visit www.gigxr.com.

About Permanente Health Care Ventures (aka Sidney)

Permanente Health Care Ventures (PHCV), (aka Sidney), drives innovation in the practice of medicine and the delivery of 21st century healthcare solutions. A subsidiary of Northwest Permanente, PC, the largest independent multi-specialty physician group in Oregon and SW Washington, PHCV is committed to advancing total health of the patients, people, and communities they serve.

Contacts

Press Contacts


GigXR Public Relations
Lindsey Henn

lindsey@gigxr.com
+1 626.893.4228

Permanente Health Care Ventures (aka Sidney)
Email info@sidneyhealth.com