Extron AV Technology Powers Healthcare Education at BCIT

Although the products of Extron are used throughout the facility, Of particular note are the audio-visual systems that support the simulation laboratories of the HSC of the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT), that allow students to learn how to practice medicine safely in controlled environments.

the Extron NAV Integrated System and other products and technologies are helping to ensure in the new HSC of the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) that students receive the instruction and experience they need to better serve the medical needs of British Columbians.

The Vancouver BCIT (British Columbia – Canada) It needed more space to respond to the growing need for well-trained health professionals across the province. Its Faculty of Health Sciences built the new Health Sciences Center (HSC) at the Burnaby campus to meet this demand.

To reinforce theoretical studies with scenario-based experiences, the new HSC was designed to offer collaborative learning spaces and state-of-the-art medical equipment coupled with assistive audio-visual technologies.

The new facilities had to improve the technological capabilities of the previous center in terms of functionality, Responsiveness and Treatment Options and Opportunities. In addition, had to meet the specific requirements of each of the 32 School Health Programs, Including 17 traditional and specialized nursing programs and 15 Magnetic Resonance Imaging, radiotherapy, Occupational health and safety and environmental health. The structural objectives were to improve sight lines, dampen noise and improve the acoustics of each space.

Among the requirements of the Audio-visual system Optimal video quality is included, instantaneous switching of AV signals, Video Conversion Between Signal Formats, Impeccable sound and conference capture and streaming capability.

Intuitive control of the system needed to be available from multiple locations, including installed touch panels and wireless wearables. Content is targeted for local presentation and remote viewing to be sent across campus and beyond.

Laboratory systems assimilate signals generated by a wide variety of sources, like computers, PTZ cameras, Technology-equipped medical equipment and human patient simulation mannequins. In addition, Each AV system needed to facilitate real-time remote observation and private and public communication between the lab and the control room.

To meet these requirements, The Consulting Company McSquared Design Group selected Extron audio-visual products and software.

“Proof-of-concept applications have never been more important than they are now, given the complexity of audiovisual systems and the challenges that come with it. The Extron team has played a vital role in conducting the POC testing and validating the design”, Explains Marcel Schoenenberger, Principal Consultant McSquared System Design Group Inc.

Design Solution

Planning, Construction and rigorous proof-of-concept of AV systems, combined with the deployment of equipment by AVI-SPL Canada, resulted in a large learning facility.

With its four floors and a total of 9.909 square meters, the HSC is the healthcare training facility, Situation-based, Canada's Largest Institution. Encompasses active learning classrooms, Conference & Meeting Rooms, Computer Labs, A divisible audience and many teaching specific programs.

Although Extron products are used throughout the facility, Of particular note are the audio-visual systems that support the Simulation Labs that allow students to learn how to practice medicine safely in controlled environments.

Simulation labs range from hospital and medical laboratory environments to emergency response and triage environments. They have treatment rooms, Patient beds with improved technology, Stop trolleys with audio-visual connectivity, Nurse Call Systems, A medication dispensing system and mimicry kits for crisis response training.

Each laboratory is associated with one of the control rooms and includes eight beds. Two beds are managed from each station in the control room, allowing multiple scenarios to run simultaneously. Around each bed are one to four PTZ cameras, A wireless microphone system Shure, A ceiling-mounted speaker and display Sharp NEC of 50 inches that are installed on the wall.

PTZ cameras mounted above each bed capture stage activities for streaming/archiving and facilitate observation and interactivity with the control room operator.

Bed stations add a sleep monitor. 24 inches on an articulated arm, two HDMI inputs lowered from the ceiling, a wall plate with at least one HDMI input and a fixed-lens camera built into the surgical light.

Some demo rooms also feature specialized medical devices, such as a Doppler ultrasound or kidney dialysis machine.

The content displayed may include any combination of vital signs from the patient simulator or a computer, Other computer-generated or computer-generated health data, and PTZ camera power.

Linked to audiovisual systems are the LMS, Health Capture & Debriefing System – HCDS, and/or the conference capture content management and hosting service Kaltura.

The installation can capture up to four video streams for simultaneous viewing in a 1080p quad window layout or a 4K full-screen video channel. Each stream is also archived for later playback.

The facility has more than 50 Portable mannequins, Human Patient Simulators. Each bed has one of these mannequins connected to the AV system along with specialized medical equipment.

A TouchLink Pro 10 touchpad″ is mounted on the headboard to control system operations. Mannequins can present a wide range of ailments, and many can mimic one or more human reactions, such as hemorrhages, moaning and crying.

Each patient simulator has a built-in speaker, and most incorporate a microphone for diagnostic sessions between students in the lab and a confederate in the control room. A built-in network router allows each unit to be on its own WiFi network.

Full connection with NAV Pro AVoIP

The NAV system connects active learning/teaching spaces, Laboratories and simulator facilities, with the flexibility to point any source to any screen.

NAV encoders connect to PTZ and dome cameras at patient stations and to HDMI computer and wall plate connections, both in patient and teaching positions.

more than 230 NAV Encoders transmit high-quality, ultra-low-latency video and AES67 audio over the IP network. more than 170 NAV decoders receive the signals from the encoders and provide perfect picture quality on large screens and desktop monitors at the various stations in the center.

“BCIT's Health Sciences Center comes with an expanded resource that is critical to ensuring that the current and future generation of healthcare professionals are well supported to serve the people of the province. I'm honing my skills using cutting-edge technology to be part of an industry that makes a difference in the long term”, says Carla Lucero, Bachelor of Nursing at BCIT.

ShareLink Pro and LinkLicense for Active Learning

The stations are equipped with wireless presentation gateways ShareLink Pro by Extron. Provide secure connectivity, by feeding content from school tablets and other authorized handheld devices into each lab's AV system. This also allows HDMI wall plate access to NAV encoders. The collaboration gateway includes an update to LinkLicense for Active Learning.

This Extron technology makes it easy to use multiple displays, This allows for comparison and discussion between groups of students or between the teacher and the students. It also allows you to operate each bed station from its partner tablet, running the app Extron Control. AVoIP and control systems reside and operate in the converged enterprise network with multicast.

Some rooms support distance learning and collaboration through zoom. Video conferencing software is installed on a dedicated host computer connected to the AV system via a bridge USB MediaPort 200 by Extron.

To ensure sound quality and clarity of recordings, Each lab has an audio expansion matrix processor from the XMP Series by Extron.

their 24 AEC channels facilitate clear communication between bed stations and remote locations. The processor provides Dante connectivity for 48 Sources and 48 Destinations. Support staff use Dante Domain Manager to manage user authentication and role-based security, with Extron AXI Series Dante audio interfaces that provide audio inputs and outputs when needed. This solution enables seamless expansion of Dante systems through the BCIT network.

Extron Control

In most cases, A control room operator manages the connected systems and provides remote verbal responses to participants on stage.

The instructor can control the patient simulator, The medical equipment associated with the bed, Computers and other sources, and the AV system from the head of the bed using the headboard-mounted touchpad or a tablet with the Extron Control app.

When the instructor chooses to run the scenario from the control room, An operator at the workstation manages the equipment. The instructor uses a tabletop microphone or lavalier microphone or wireless headset to communicate with the confederate in the lab, wearing a headset.

General two-way communication between the control room and the lab is possible using a push-to-talk microphone at each operator workstation and the associated ceiling microphone and speaker at each bed station. Whatever the method, All exchanges are captured and made available for transmission and archiving.

Each lab's control system is based on an Extron IP Link Pro control processor with LinkLicense, And the largest labs have more than one. The control processors have been programmed with Global Scripter, Extron's Python-based development environment. The user interface has been created with GUI Designer to ensure that the design is intuitive and easily reproducible on the many touch devices.

BCIT's new HSC is Canada's largest simulation-based healthcare training centre and is recognised as one of the most advanced in the world. From the first day of school, has been supporting innovative and progressive clinical education through active learning and sophisticated simulations.

Other articles on AVI-SPL, British Columbia Institute of Technology - BCIT, Extron, Extron Electronics, Kaltura, McSquared System Design, Shure, zoom, Zoom Video Communications