WSES – WJES Research Grant 2024
Smart glasses application in the pre-hospital trauma care
The World Society of Emergency Surgery is offering an educational grant for a young surgeon who wishes
to expand his/her research experience in the emergency and trauma surgery setting. Particularly, the 2024
grant will be dedicated to the research on the potential application of smart glasses in the pre-hospital
trauma care. The amount of the grant is 500 euros.
By improving communication technology, various forms of wearable devices are gaining great attention
with purposes that go beyond those related to fashion and health. They can be used by installing
applications available on a mobile operating system. Wearable devices are defined as devices capable of
computing that can be worn on the body, including for applications that entail computing functions.
Since 2012, several companies launched their own type of smart glasses, a type of wearable device that can
be worn on the face, which guarantees a clearer vision but functioning as a computer as well. Indeed, by
supporting wireless communication technologies, such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, smart glasses can be used to
search and share information in real time through an internet connection. Moreover, they provide a
location tracking function through the Global Positioning System (GPS), thus permitting the development of
several applications based on location information. It is also possible to acquire photographs or video data
of the surrounding environment in real time, thanks to a camera mounted in front of the device. Smart
glasses are a technology based on optical head-mounted displays, so wearing them the user is allowed to
view an online digital world, an offline world, and the physical world. Users don’t need extensive physical
efforts. For instance, it is not necessary to use one’s hands or eyes repeatedly to interact with a smart glass.
Smart glasses visualize information using augmented reality or mixed reality methods. Smart glasses
applications include information visualization, image data analysis, data processing, navigation,
information transmission and sharing, and risk detection and warning.
A progressively increasing interest has been reported in literature in the latest years, especially in the
health-care setting. Clinical and surgical assistance for health-care professionals, mental and physical
disability support and therapy are the most extensively evaluated fields. The application of smart glasses in
the education setting gained a significant interest as well, especially in physics, but also in nursing and
physical training education. Research purposes are visualization and information in most studies. Other
research purposes reported are notifying users of dangers using acquired data and sharing information. To
summarize, the main purpose of the available studies is to determine ways to visually represent
information using smart glasses, and transmitting data acquired through smart glasses was the most
frequently described. A camera sensor was the most commonly used device. Most of the acquired data
appeared in the form of augmented reality, are processed in the device, and transmitted via Wi-Fi.
The potential application of the use of smart glasses in the pre-hospital trauma care has never been
investigated so far. Trauma is one of the major cause of death in the world, and the leading one for people
under 45 years old. Immediate trauma deaths are still a significant number, and training in how to deal with
trauma injuries is of great importance. Some studies show clear improvements in trauma management
after following trauma guidelines, clinical pathways, or protocols, but teaching in the trauma setting is
often challenging, especially in the pre-hospital phase. For this reason, The Advanced Trauma Life Support
(ATLS) was developed in 1978, and the Prehospital Trauma Life Support (PHTLS) followed three years later.
Since the ATLS and the PHTLS courses were developed, a general framework was provided with respect to
how to manage trauma injuries. Nevertheless, attrition and low compliance rate with that framework are
important issues even in major trauma facilities. The attrition rate is affected by the time from the trauma
training and the volume of trauma patients treated regularly, and this is the reason why trauma training
needs to be regularly repeated. The known advantages of smart glasses can be of utmost importance in this
setting. Training limitations in the pre-hospital trauma care include the limited number of health-care
providers involved, especially when the trauma happens in remote scenarios. The connection via smart
glasses between the experts on the field and the trainees off the field has the potential to represent an
added value in the pre-hospital trauma training. Moreover, by connecting the pre-hospital team on the
field with the trauma team waiting for the patient in the trauma resuscitation bay, smart glasses may favor
the sharing of several important information. The trauma team has the potential to gain additional
information on the exact timing of arrival of the patient, to be informed in real time on patient clinical
status and hemodynamics, to be updated on the lesions assessment and on the treatment provided to the
patient in the pre-hospital phase. Whether smart glasses help communication between the pre and in-
hospital trauma care, thus improving trauma patients management and outcomes, is a fascinating that
deserves to be further addressed.
How to apply
Eligibility criteria
Candidates whose are members of the WSES at the time of the application
Candidates whose are 40-year old or younger surgeons at the time of the application
Candidates currently working in a level 1 trauma center at the time of the application
Candidates with a proven scientific activity in the emergency and trauma surgery field during the
last three years
Previous recipients of a WSES grant are not eligible
Candidates should provide via e-mail (info@wses.org.uk)
Letter of motivation
Curriculum vitae
Letter of recommendation from the Chair of department
The WSES Board will select the candidate on the basis of the aforementioned requirements.
At the end of the research activity, the selected candidate will be asked to produce a complete report on
the potential application of smart glasses in the pre-hospital trauma care and to produce a scientific paper
