The Apple Vision Pro headset, which is the latest high-tech device to hit the market, may also be the future of health care.
The team inside Sharp HealthCare’s Prebys Innovation and Education Center in Kearny Mesa just bought 25 sets of Apple Vision Pro goggles to begin investigating whether Sharp can use the augmented reality devices (prices start at $3,499) to improve patient care in everything from check-ups to surgical procedures. The Apple Vision Pro sits over a user's eyes like skiing goggles and projects apps and screens across the user’s field of vision.
“This is the new way of human beings, how we will interact with computers in the future,” said Dr. Tommy Korn, a Sharp HealthCare ophthalmologist leading the investigation and testing. “It's going to save time. It's going to make us more efficient.”
Korn said Sharp is the only medical system in the world he knows of that is investigating how to use the Apple Vision Pro for healthcare.
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“This device allows me to keep my hands free," Korn said while demonstrating the device. "And as a surgeon, I need my hands to focus on the patient. I'm still the surgeon. I still maintain control. But it enhances me. It empowers me. It augments me.”
It’s an augmented reality that is very close to simply becoming reality.
“This is the first inning of a baseball game, and we're just getting started,” Korn concluded.
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Sharp HealthCare doesn’t have a timeline for deploying the Apple Vision Pro with patients.
