SymPulse™ invented by Klick Labs
A randomized controlled trial found that 53% of physicians reported declining levels of patient empathy at baseline.
It is incredibly difficult to feel true empathy for a person who has a condition you’ve never experienced.
This is the challenge that physicians and caregivers face every day when working with their patients and loved ones.
Creating authentic empathy requires the recreation of an authentic experience.
Klick Labs sought to build the most physiologically accurate simulation device possible to achieve this effect.
“A lot of people don’t know what it’s like, and I think that it’s great that the device lets you experience how it feels. It actually felt really real, not being able to control.”
SymPulse™ actually simulates the electrical muscle activity seen in movement disorder symptoms.
Until now, symptom simulators for movement disorders like Parkinson’s have been based around mechanical vibrations, but have not accurately simulated the symptom experience on a muscular level.
The SymPulse™ experience generates empathy and insights that were previously unattainable.
“I’m not sure how to describe it. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen my tremor in somebody else. I want everyone to be able to feel that.”
A person living with a movement disorder is fitted with a wireless electromyogram (EMG) to record and digitize their exact physiological experience.
Their electric muscle activity is then fed back into a programmable transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) armband.
The TENS armband uses anodes and cathodes controlled by a microcontroller to feed the electrical signals recorded from the patient, resulting in the involuntary muscle activity that mimics tremors.
A physician or caregiver can truly experience the difficulties of seemingly simple tasks such as buttoning a shirt or using a mobile phone.
For the first time, physicians and caregivers worldwide will be able to feel the exact symptoms of their patients and loved ones.
The clinical implications for tele-empathy go beyond the symptom simulation achieved with SymPulse™.
“I have new empathy for people who have to go through this 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for the rest of their life.”
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