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XotonicsMED

Medical camera for mobile photo and wound documentation

Photography has become an indispensable part of our everyday lives. Every phone has a high-performance camera, and countless digicams in a pocket or professional format are our constant companions, and not just on vacation trips. Every moment is recorded and documented live.

Funny really: for what reason has this trend not yet established itself to a similar extent in medicine and the healthcare sector? Photography has not yet arrived in today's medical practice. It is too complicated to achieve correct exposure, to document the images and to assign them to the correct patient or findings.

Sophisticated systems already exist for progress documentation in dermatology, but for all other medical areas, from nursing to the operating room, there is no easy-to-use, secure and robust photosystem. If at all, the small digital cameras from the consumer sector are used, but how can these things be kept hygienically clean?

Product design for professional use

With this awareness of the problem, XotonicsMed CEO Uwe Seidel came to us at the beginning of 2015 and wanted to radically remedy the situation. The best clinical camera was to be developed - easy to use despite the high-tech inside. A very simple system for the practical use of photography in the clinic. Formulating this objective was certainly an ingenious first step, but the corresponding technical development that was to follow had its work cut out for it.

6 months of development work with some loops and new requirements until the concept finally stood.

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Why so big?

While everything in the consumer world is getting smaller and smaller, the Xotocam is conspicuously large. As big as a modern tablet with a 7-inch display and touch controls. Most striking is the angular design with the pronounced handle grip. A logical design decision after a series of quick handling tests with disposable gloves, wet fingers and a bumpy work environment. The XOTOCAM should immediately stand out everywhere and illustrate its handling. It says to the user: "Look, here I am, you can grip me safely and if I bump into something - it's not so tragic, because I'm robust!" The colour-contrasting rubber coatings on the grip surfaces provide additional visual and tactile grip for the tilt-resistant and stable camera.

Particular care has been taken with the resistant and disinfectable surface. The IP 64 protection class ensures perfect wipe-disinfect ability while the interior is protected against moisture penetration. There are definitely several reasons for the grey-blue colour scheme, explains project manager Dennis Kulage: "We wanted to clearly set the look apart from the small, smart digicams and build a professional appearance. And: after all, small, glittery objects too often simply disappear into jacket pockets."

So, where does the Xotocam have its place?

In the middle of the development work, this question emerged more and more urgently and also had to be solved. If the camera always has to be searched for first, its value is low. The time-saving solution was a smart charging station with a wall mount. In it is the local WLAN, in the vicinity of which the camera is logged in. The eye-catching porthole corresponds with the camera optics and gives a clear impulse: only in the charging station is the camera back in its place. In this way, a camera can be positioned on the wall in every ward, and in every operating room, to save space.

Graphical User Interface Design (GUI)

Always the right lighting without much adjustment, this was the requirement for image quality. A novel LED ring light was developed and prominently staged in the design to ensure shadow-free illumination, even at very short shooting distances of less than 20cm. With its integrated fixed focus, the camera focuses instantly with its up to 4K resolution, so you don't have to worry about that either.

The large 7-inch touch display not only makes it easy to take photos but the evenly illuminated display can also be used for subsequent image assessment. A laser module has been integrated for precise measurement of wounds, scars or skin surfaces. This allows clear and repeatable results to be documented. The corresponding GUI design for the display surface was designed by us to be tidy and functional and optimized for the most important activities.

The correct patient is simply selected from a patient list in advance of the exposure via barcode or by entering the name on the touch display. All subsequent photos can thus be automatically assigned to the correct patient and his or her file. "Instead of noting the image number for the patient number and later transferring it manually to the electronic administration, the photo is automatically archived here at the corresponding location," explains Xotonics-Med Managing Director Uwe Seidel.

Connectivity | the highlight of the system

The highlight of the system, however, is the connection to the existing hospital information systems (HIS/PACS) via common interfaces such as HL7 and DICOM. The coupling is done via WLAN, via RJ45 network plugs or via TCP/IP. Data is automatically encrypted a basic requirement for meeting the data security standards required in Germany. The camera itself can be equipped with a user restriction and various options for user recognition such as ID, voice or face recognition.

The XOTOCAM 1.1 is optimized for targeted use in everyday clinical practice. Its advantage is the comparatively simple operation of complex technology. Functionality and design are combined in a completely new way. Photographing, filming, measuring, annotating and archiving in one has never been done before!