00:00I understand it's noisy, Betty. Maybe you could try putting headphones on in your room
00:04to be more comfortable?
00:07Nope, this isn't the latest episode of Black Mirror.
00:10Health and social care students at North Kent College are plugging into virtual reality
00:14to put them face-to-face with real-world care home simulations.
00:19So they might be in a care home, turning up for a shift, someone's upset and they have
00:23to navigate that and calm the residents down.
00:27Well, students are obviously using technology a lot. Most of them have headsets or have
00:32used them in the past, so it's really easy for them to use and it's an environment that
00:37they're very happy and familiar with.
00:39The gear is being showcased today to healthcare professionals as the college opens its assisted
00:43living technology suite, a high-end combination of speakers, sensors and safety measures to
00:49make a patient's day-to-day life more convenient and to help carers in their job delivering
00:54support.
00:54But elsewhere, the technology gets a little bit more sophisticated. So one of the three
00:59scenarios is about John. He's a dementia patient who hasn't yet woken up. The time's getting
01:04on, it's about 11 o'clock. So the smart system is able to send him a nudge to maybe go and
01:09have some breakfast. So one of his speakers, TVs, will come on and send a little message.
01:15Good morning, John. Have you considered having something to eat for breakfast?
01:20So some of the ethos we talk about in the use case scenarios is not only helping the person
01:23to live independently, but also easing the concerns that family members might have as
01:28well. So reducing the stress levels for the family members and the informal carers.
01:33It's all part of North Kent College's advancement towards a technology-based approach to learning.
01:38How do you strike the balance between applying technology that would go on to help students
01:44in their future careers and using technology that would maybe be considered gimmicky or,
01:49you know, that would be a bit more difficult to implement in the real world?
01:52What we've seen is a technology shift over the years where you don't really have to be a computer
01:59scientist to, for instance, start adopting some form of smart home technology. We're finding
02:07when you actually let students loose on it, they're the ones that can teach you about it.
02:12And, you know, the degree of enthusiasm for adopting it is huge.
02:16So it's unclear for how long the technology on display here really will click. As the suite
02:22opens its doors to the healthcare workers of tomorrow, it's up to them to decide just how
02:27well everything connects in the real world. Bartholomew Hall for KMTV in Tunbridge.
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