Clinical Encounters
Expertise
Platforms
Deliverables
Website
Visit website
My Role
I was brought on as a Unity Developer to assist with configuring an Oculus Rift prototype of Clinical Encounters to create an immersive experience between doctor & patient, along with setting up a dialogue text engine for use with the Alcohol, Obesity, and Pain training modules. I worked closely with a UI designer, 3D modeler, and a writing team to bring the platform to life.
Project Overview
Clincal Encounters is a platform used to provide CME (continued medical education) to students in a wide array of medical case categories. It consists of two parts, the Reader, which is the viewer that students use to practice their CME and training, and the Writer, which allows medical professionals to write their own cases to be used in the Reader.
Execution
I imported the Reader into a virtual 3D tablet that the doctor (player) could use to track the case and follow along. Then, I imported a realistic model of a doctor's office along with several 3D patient avatars. Next, I worked on incorporating the branching dialogue between doctor and patient. I drafted UI components to highlight key objectives of the case from the tablet, while displaying a log of past conversations between the client and patient. Additionally, I created a 3D character creator so players could customize their avatar. Lastly, I was tasked with improving the Reader, which had an abundance of case material to be adopted from XML files. I created UI/UX features primarily for branching dialogue.
Results
After my contract with Clinical Tools, they had planned to expand my VR work to the Oculus Go. Clinical Encounters currently utilizes aspects of my character creator and the UI/UX improvements I made to their dialogue engines for the Reader platform application. The Clinical Encounters Platform has expanded since I helped develop it to include new case material and is still utilized for CME/training for medical students.
Key Takeaways
- This project was my first instance of working in the healthcare field and gave me insights into medical research and how it affects the software development process.
- I worked with a unique cross-functional team and was at the intersection of UI design, medical case writing, and 3D modeling.
- I helped diagnose and optimize various problems with the platform that had been present since before I joined the team.
- My development fingerprints are still present in the application today and assists students and educators with their continued medical education training.