Medical lecturers in Seattle are considering using X-Box 360 game consoles to connect to and teach rural medical students, rather than using more expensive telecommunications equipment, the Idaho Statesman reports.
The X-Box modules can be equipped with wireless audio and video attachments to connect medical students at over 200 sites in the rural areas of Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho to the University of Washington's medical school in Seattle.
The technology could let instructors demonstrate how to perform certain medical techniques and then watch close-ups of the students practicing the techniques, the Statesman reports.
The currently used systems cost about $3,500, or about 10 times as much as the X-Box module, and require additional infrastructure, including broadband connections and servers, the Statesman reports.
"If we can in fact show that we can teach skills this way, we can change the outcomes of health care," Brian Ross, medical professor at the Institute for Surgical and Interventional Simulation at the University of Washington, said (Hahn, Idaho Statesman, 8/14).