Hello Friends 👋
In this episode of Tech Tuesday on The Incubator Podcast, Dr. Daphna Yasova Barbeau sits down with Ben Moore, founder of VCreate, a multi-award-winning clinical video management platform. VCreate bridges the gap between families and neonatal care teams by enabling the creation and sharing of secure video updates, fostering family engagement during NICU stays. The conversation delves into the origins of VCreate, inspired by a father’s request to stay connected with his baby through video, and its rapid adoption by over 150 hospitals globally.
Ben highlights VCreate’s innovative features, including personalized video diaries, milestone recordings, and its HIPAA-compliant, secure platform. Families receive positive updates like their baby’s first bath or coming off a ventilator, easing anxiety and strengthening bonds with clinical teams. The episode also explores VCreate’s multi-language translation capabilities and digital tools, like parent passports and therapy follow-ups, which further enhance communication and care.
Dr. Yasova Barbeau emphasizes the transformative impact of VCreate in addressing the emotional and practical needs of families during stressful NICU journeys. To learn more or schedule a demo, listeners are encouraged to visit vcreate.tv. This episode sheds light on how technology is revolutionizing family-centered neonatal care.
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Short Bio: Ben is an acknowledged authority on the secure delivery and management of online video, having spoken on the subject at events worldwide. He is the founder of vCreate, a multi-award winning Clinical Video Management platform empowering healthcare teams to deliver remote care, create clinical efficiencies and improve patient outcomes. Used to support family engagement and provide reassuring video updates to parents in Neonatal Units, the service is utilised in more than 150 hospitals around the world. Ben is a passionate advocate of “Tech For Good” ensuring the service is utilised to help improve people's lives across the globe, from local UK neonatal units to specialist neurology outreach in Africa. As part of the vCreate ethos, they donate up to 10% of their annual profits to a Neonatal and Neurology research fund plus they work on various pro-bono projects around the world.
X: @BenjaminRMoore
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The transcript of today's episode can be found below 👇
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (00:01.314)
Hi everybody, welcome back to Tech Tuesday. I'm very excited about the company and the product that we're going to talk about today. I have Ben Moore, the founder of VCreate in the studio today. Ben, thank you for joining me.
Ben Moore (00:18.853)
to be here. Thanks for inviting me.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (00:21.09)
Well, I wanted to tell people a little bit about what you're doing and who you are, and then we'll dive in to what you have to offer our neonatal units. So Ben Moore is the founder of VCreate, a multi -award winning clinical video management platform empowering healthcare teams to deliver remote care, create clinical efficiency, and improve patient outcomes. It's used to support family engagement and provide reassuring video updates to parents and neonatal units.
And this service is utilized in more than 150 hospitals around the world and counting, right? And expanding every single day. So tell us a little bit about what VCreate has to offer. I understand this is part of a bigger system, but let's start specifically with what you do in the NICU with the video diaries.
Ben Moore (00:55.908)
Indeed.
Ben Moore (01:10.333)
Sure, sure. Maybe I can give you a little bit of context into how it started. It's actually really quite an interesting story as well. we had a secure video platform primarily used in the private sector for sort of large corporates to communicate with their staff internally. And in 2016, we were approached by a previous guest on your podcast, Dr. Neil Patel from Glasgow, and he...
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (01:14.03)
Please.
Ben Moore (01:35.395)
He had a request from one of his dads in the unit to say that, so his dad was a car mechanic. And I don't know if have this in the US, but in the UK, they have these systems where they will film what they're doing to your car. then they will sort of say your cars, but okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So they'll, they'll film it and then they'll send you a little video and they'll say, I've replaced the exhaust today, or we've done this today. So he's a car mechanic using that system. And he said to Neil,
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (01:42.85)
Hmm.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (01:51.554)
We do not and I can see the value in that.
Very cool. Yeah.
Ben Moore (02:05.297)
why can't I get a video of my baby in Munich? yeah, so, so it was like, well, yeah, yeah, why not? So, so actually the new approach to company that did this particular automotive system, but they just focus mainly on automotive. So did a bit of a Google search or the search engines are available. And, and he found us and we had a conversation. I just, I just thought, why is no one doing this? Why is no one.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (02:07.554)
He's absolutely right, what a neat story.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (02:13.752)
You
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (02:26.104)
Mm -hmm.
Ben Moore (02:34.619)
sending videos of babies in the unit to their families when they can't be there. So we just said them, we said, look, we definitely want to do this. We'll just give you a system for free as part of our sort of corporate social responsibility kind of thing. And so we went through lots of approvals process and we did a little bit of sort of tinkering with the platform and made some adjustments. And we launched it about six months later and the parents just absolutely loved it.
parents in the unit loved it. We were on BBC television for quite a while here in the UK and then so that was one unit in Glasgow and then other units in Glasgow wanted to use it and then units in Scotland wanted to use it and then then all of a sudden it just became this thing and so it was like a lot of great technology it was born out of a very specific requirement from the family themselves you know the family said we need something like this
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (03:23.618)
Mm -hmm.
Ben Moore (03:27.749)
So look to industry to provide it. were there to do it and here we are. yeah, the system is a video platform. So nursing teams will record videos and take photos as well of the baby while it's in the incubator or the cot. And it's mainly for when the families can't be there. And of course, we all know there lots of reasons why it can't be.
the unit of the children and work commitments and loads of reasons. So this is all about keeping those families connected and ensuring that that really hugely important bonding process that takes place with mom as well and siblings and wider family. And it's all positive stuff, it's positive. So it's first time the eyes open, it's first bath, it's when they came off the ventilator, it's all these really positive stuff.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (03:53.123)
Right?
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (04:12.834)
Mm -hmm.
Ben Moore (04:21.583)
And it just builds up a diary of the, of the stay. And of course, when they leave the unit, once they discharge and everyone's going home and everyone's really happy, then they're able to download all those videos and photos. And there's lots of messages that they can send messages to the nurses as well. And write comments and all that story, that whole story can be, can be kept for posterity later. So it's just a really nice non -clinical family centered.
initiative that's been hugely popular. We're nearing, if you can believe it, we're nearing a million videos and photos that have been created on this platform. and families tell us all the time, know, what a difference, a simple video or a photo made when they were feeling a bit blue. So, yeah, that's, that's, that's, that's, been great.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (05:10.85)
Yeah, I believe it. And what I really love about this is it's kind of this real time feedback for families when they need it most. this, like you call it, NICU diary, where I feel like families are so much in the thick of it, in the NICU. And then they can have these varied experiences where like, did this really happen, all this experience that we've lived through? And gosh, I wish I had.
Ben Moore (05:32.955)
Yeah.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (05:39.704)
taken more videos and more photos of these milestones that truly were milestones. We so just trying to get out of there, but we missed this opportunity to create these memories. So I think that's such a special component of what you guys have to offer.
Ben Moore (05:41.191)
Yeah.
Ben Moore (05:45.725)
So.
Ben Moore (05:49.425)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Ben Moore (05:54.051)
Yeah, I mean, it's a hugely confusing time, isn't it? And there's so much going on often, know, families are kind of thrust into the situation without much warning. And so, yeah, there's a lot to do and emotions are high. And, yeah, you these, these, these short videos, it's all about reassurance and, you know, sort of, know, try to minimize that anxiety, the families are feeling and, and also actually it creates a really nice connection between
clinical team and the families as well actually. It's because everyone's involved in this huge emotional journey and it allows the two to sort of interact as well. yeah there are lots, we know that in the US there are lots of the live chemists which I think are brilliant, know, really doing a great job and I think there really is a need for something that can be watched again and shared with the wider families as they go along. And of course
shown to baby ones, he or she is all grown up and so yeah, so we, know, it's hugely popular here in the UK, so we're in over 150 hospitals and many across the world as well and you know, every day we hear stories from families who feed back to us, which is hugely important to us and it's what keeps us going.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (07:12.654)
Absolutely. And I just, I'll get on my soapbox, something about you said, you know, I think this kind of, we don't recognize how important the informal communication is with families. It really develops this rapport building. We finally have some good studies coming out saying kind of this informal, just talking about the things about their baby, not the medical things about their baby, just the special unique features of the baby are so valuable to families.
Ben Moore (07:23.453)
So.
Ben Moore (07:34.855)
Yeah.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (07:39.394)
to say, gosh, I thought of you, I knew this was important to you, I'll send you a picture or video, I'm sure means everything to families. So I have no doubt that families are loving this. I wonder what kind of feedback you're getting from the healthcare teams.
Ben Moore (07:54.765)
Yeah, really positive actually and you know, we were a bit worried at first because these are busy people These are very busy units and the last thing we want to do is to add to that already strenuous workload but actually the beauty of this system is that Expectations are set from the very start. So the families create an account on the system. So it's all secure and HIPAA compliant and
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (08:00.75)
Mmm.
Ben Moore (08:20.951)
And, as part of that onboarding process, you know, the teams will say, look, we're, we're not going to promise you a video or a photo every day at this time. That's just not practical. know, clinical care is a priority to everyone understands that, but we will do our best to try and do this. And what we actually have is, next to the cot, there'll be a QR code that they scan. And that's how the videos are assigned to the right parent, right family account. And actually they sort of act as a bit of a reminder to the team as well.
just going take a quick video and because I know that mum was worried yesterday so I'm just going to do that. yeah the workforce tell us that they find it a really positive experience they find that it helps them bond with the families that we touched on earlier which is you hugely important and you know because it's important for them to feel like they're giving back and making a difference and this helps them with that and I think it's fun as well you know.
you're able to actually have these like little effects and stuff. at Christmas time we have snow and jingle bells and stuff like that. So it's, it's, it's, think it's, it's a fun element in what can sometimes be not a particularly fun environment. And I think this will, you know, this, this, this has sort of helps, helps the staff, you know, as it helps the parents actually. So yeah, really positive feedback so far, which I'm pleased to say.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (09:38.476)
Yeah. I, in my experience, the staff really wants to do things like that, but there are so many barriers, right? The patient privacy, what, what, do I take it on a phone? Do I take it on a camera? Can I print it? Can I send it? but it sounds like on this platform and tell me, it, is it app based the platform or how does that work?
Ben Moore (09:44.731)
Awesome.
Yeah.
Ben Moore (09:51.378)
Yeah.
Ben Moore (09:58.457)
Yeah. So it's, it's, it's what we call a responsive website. So it's, it's, it's a web app. Yeah. So it's available on any device. So the, the, the families could see them on a device and they can share with other family members as well. And, and you're right, you know, it is, there's lots of worries when creating content like this. but actually what I think this does is this kind of standardizes the process actually. And it says, right, this is what we do to send videos and photos, and this is the process and this is how we do it. And of course the whole process has been designed around.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (10:01.741)
Mm -hmm.
Ben Moore (10:28.507)
security all the way through. So I think actually it kind of gets past some those barriers as well. And maybe some of those teams who are thinking we'd like to do something, but don't know how to go about doing it. And are worried about those concerns. You know, we've thought about that a hundred times and sort of, you know, have locked down a really efficient, safe and secure process for teams to be able to do that. So yeah, I think the reassurance to the hospitals themselves as well.
is useful in this case.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (10:59.926)
I wanted to highlight some of these kind of other hidden features that I didn't recognize initially. But you have a translate function, so it is multi -language. And I think this helps families both with videos and things like digital documentation, uploading forms and things like that.
Ben Moore (11:18.925)
Yeah, yeah. So, so there's sort of two systems there. The first one is the automatic translation. So that's a, that's an AI powered translation engine powered by Microsoft Azure who obviously we all know. And the actual, whole application is translated. So we don't just sort of use Google Translate in the browser. Absolutely everything is translated. So any alerts, emails that you get, text messages that you see, everything.
And there is a messaging, there's a sort of standard messaging system in there as well. So it's sort of like an email, a system to system. So, you know, for those families where English isn't their first language and actually it's, it's going to help hostile teams, you know, not to use translators as much and be able to, to actually use that as a sort of main communication tool. It's really easy to that. They just choose a language when they first go in and
Bosch everything's translated. So yeah, that's one element. And then we do have this thing called recreate forms, is think of sort of like Google forms or type form. It's like a form builder. So actually it enables unit teams to be able to digitize all their sort of current paper forms. know the, I mean, you know, there are a lot of paper forms out there, aren't there? So this allows you to digitize that. And again, they're all translatable. So you can create a form in English.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (12:31.662)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Ben Moore (12:38.289)
for my basic consent form or feedback form or whatever it may be. And then the families can choose to have that in own language and can feel that for me and feedback. yeah, there's a whole format and there's lots of really exciting things in there. There's something called a parent passport, which sort of documents the parent journey and that can be used for, so a staff member can say, right, I'm going to show you maybe a child with a stoma or something like that or.
or has a very sort of specific medical condition, then the staff members can show them how to do that and then have the form say, yes, I've seen this, I know how to do this. So yeah, there's lots of, so it's not just videos and photos, it can be quite a useful tool for the unit as well.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (13:24.462)
I love that. I think sometimes families come to the NICU, they understand it's going to be high tech. We've got all these machines and you're right, we're handing them paper forms in 2024. So they look at us with the surprise about that. I also wanted to highlight this as an area of interest for me, our follow -up systems admittedly in the States lack a little bit to be desired really in the way we can get patients.
Ben Moore (13:31.791)
Yeah, yeah.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (13:51.778)
follow up, especially for therapies in a timely manner. So what we have done, we've recreated kind of what you guys are doing, but it is quite laborious without a system like this for the neonatal therapists. Can you tell us about that?
Ben Moore (13:53.701)
Okay. Yeah.
Ben Moore (14:05.645)
Yeah, sure. So yes, our follow -up system, again, know, this came from a requirement from a clinical team. So some of the neonatal physios came to us and said, this would be great to receive information from the families at home. You know, it saves them obviously coming to hospital where they live a long way away. And especially with some of the sort of very time restrictive follow -ups of the general movement, maybe.
And so what they can do there is it's they can actually send videos back in. So it's not just one way you can enable this feed to send videos into that. The families can record these particular assessments or record what's happening with maybe or any kind of concern or anything like that. They can just say, this is what I'm seeing. Am I doing this right? Should I do this? And then that video can go back into the clinical team and they can obviously advise from there. And that video can then actually form part of the medical record as well. So it's.
Again, that all sort of comes, comes as part of the, of the package and yeah, we've got a lot of teams using that. So both for the, started out with general movements, but very much moving into, into, into therapy now and, and, and speech language therapy and lots of other things as well. So it's a, yeah, quite, quite a useful system.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (15:18.422)
I that. think there are lots of these special features that just add so much value. Now, if somebody is interested in the product, they want to do a demo, or they want to sign their hospital up, what does that look like?
Ben Moore (15:33.895)
Sure. Yeah. So you can go to our website. So it's a vcreate .tv. I'm sure you'll put that up somewhere. So yeah. And then from there, there's lots of information on how the system works and some sort of information for the IT security teams as well to sort of keep them happy. And then there's a request a demo button. So click on that. Senator details will be in touch and then we'll happily arrange a demonstration over Teams or Zoom or whatever needs to be using.
you know, bring the whole team with them, the more the merrier, the more people see it, the better. And I think really, so, you know, seeing is believing and we can sort of go through the system and answer any questions and talk about how it would work with the current pathway and how that NICU is set up. So obviously they're all different. And yeah, and it's all done remotely. So really easy. And we do all the approvals. We liaise with your.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (16:05.902)
He
Ben Moore (16:28.765)
your IT teams and your information security teams to go through all the approvals. And they're just going to imagine it's all HEPA compliant. The data is in US data centers, all those things. And we do all that for you. And then once you're ready to go, we will train you all up. And then we say to you, go and practice on some test patients, know, just use one of the members of staff and get used to the flow. And then once you're ready, sign up your first patient and let us know how you're getting on.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (16:57.422)
I love that. I love that. Well, I hope everybody will go take a look. I will highlight that. Again, it's vcreate .tv slash Nicu diaries and take a look about the amazing things that you guys are doing. I think this is really going to transform the way we communicate with families and it sounds like you guys have a pretty user -friendly platform in which to do it. So thank you for coming on.
Ben Moore (17:21.307)
No, thank you for having me. Great to talk to you. yeah, thanks again for all the great work you do as well. Love it. Love the podcast.
Daphna Yasova Barbeau, MD (17:27.31)
That's appreciated.
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