The University of California, Irvine's School of Medicine announced Wednesday that it will be testing Google Glass by having its students use the device.
Irvine will be the first school to use Glass in its four-year curriculum, according to CNET.
The device will be used by the school's first and second-year medical students in their anatomy and clinical skills courses. It will be used by third and fourth-year students for their hospital rotations.
"I believe digital technology will let us bring a more impactful and relevant clinical learning experience to our students," said Dr. Ralph V. Clayman, dean of medicine at Irvine. "Enabling our students to become adept at a variety of digital technologies fits perfectly into the ongoing evolution of healthcare into a more personalized, participatory, home-based and digitally-driven endeavor."
UCI will buy 10 Google Glass this month, then an additional 30 later this year. Each device costs $1,500. The school received funds from a philanthropist to buy them, 89.3 KPCC reported.
Linking students at Irvine to instructors from the medical center in Orange, located about 14 miles away, is one of the planned uses for Glass.
Clayman predicted that the device will replace old ways of learning surgical techniques, such as looking over a surgeon's shoulder from a stool. A surgeon can now wear Glass while students can watch from any location, 89.3 KPCC reported.
"If you could actually be in the room, and sit and see everything on your iPad, see exactly what the surgeon is seeing, that would be a tremendous benefit," he said, adding that students will be able to view important information on their iPads.
He added that students can learn about bedside manner, which involves interacting with a patient, by placing the device on a patient and recording the conversation.
UC Irvine has run pilot tests with Glass in intensive care units, operating rooms and the emergency department, CNET reported. The school has found the device very helpful.
"Medical education has always been very visual and very demonstrative, and Glass has enormous potential to positively impact the way we can educate physicians in real time," said Dr. Warren Wiechmann, assistant clinical professor of emergency medicine at Irvine. "Indeed, all of medicine is based on 'seeing,' not 'reading,' the patient."
416 students currently attend the medical school.
