Definitions

Case conference: A formal and structured meeting between the interdisciplinary members of the pre-surgical, surgical, and post-surgical teams to coordinate upcoming procedures. Case conferences can identify or clarify a patient’s status and issues, review and strategize surgical planning, and map roles and responsibilities.

Center for Cardiovascular Innovation (CCVI): An integrated platform consisting of experts in cardiology, cardiac surgery, cardiac anesthesiology, radiology, and engineering, who collaborate in the development, translation, and clinical implementation of diagnostic and therapeutic devices to reduce the burden of suffering from cardiovascular disease.

Computed Tomography Scan (CT scan): A cross-sectional imaging technique most commonly produced using x-rays and a computer. CT scans can be used with MRIs to create three-dimensional VR models.

Data wall: A multi-screen, ultra-high-definition digital display to support presentations and visualizations. Pictured on p. 10.

Driver: The user wearing the VR headset and guiding the VR experience. See p. 18.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): Detailed anatomical imaging technique produced using magnetic fields and radio waves and a computer. MRIs can be used with CT scans to create three-dimensional VR models.

Play area: The real world area in which the VR user can walk around, with movements replicated within the virtual environment. See p. 14 for more information about the play area.

Translation Research and Information Lab (TRAIL): A five-partner initiative accelerating innovation in health care through tools, team science and applications at the University of Washington. The Health Sciences Library is a partner. Pictured on p. 7 (top).

Virtual Reality (VR): An immersive and interactive computer-generated experience that transports the user into an entirely virtual 360-degree and three-dimensional environment, most commonly generated by a VR headset with a head-mounted display. Users look, move, and interact with the environment using handheld controllers.

VR headset: A head-mounted display that immerses the wearer into a 360-degree, three-dimensional virtual environment. The headset simulates the virtual environment by completely covering the wearer’s eyes with two high-definition screens and tracking movement through space via accompanying sensors or onboard cameras. Also referred to as “VR goggles.” See p. 26 for headset options.

VR sensors: Used to track the VR user’s location within the play area by monitoring the movement of the headset and controllers through space. Sensor types vary by headset; the HTC Vive uses the laser-based, inside-out Lighthouse system with sensors placed at near-ceiling height corners of the play area, while the Oculus Rift uses an optical-based, outside-in tracking Constellation tracking system with infrared sensors at desk level and only feet apart.