Our healthcare system has never been put against an enemy such as the COVID-19 virus, forcing the world to look for alternative innovative solutions that make global healthcare more flexible and future-ready.
Virtual Reality In The Healthcare Industry
Global Healthcare leveraging Virtual Reality, certainly makes for a lucrative prospect for the future. Virtual Reality would help prepare better healthcare systems for global health crises and pandemics, such as the one currently being faced. Like all other industries are jumping on the VR wagon, medical institutions, and healthcare tech companies too are slowly adapting to the VR space equally well.
Future Of VR Technology In Healthcare Industry
The benefits of virtual reality is its flexibility and the wide application of this technology can be tweaked to adapt to different medical niches.
It has incredibly improved the health and lives of patients on the wings of medicine. VR has greatly helped patients with deficiencies like lazy eye, chronic pain, autism, and other health conditions. The following fields have been influenced the most by VR.
- Medicine
- Clinical skills training
- Physical and occupational therapy
- Motor and cognitive skills rehabilitation
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Mental health therapy
Virtual reality based solutions have already changed healthcare as we now know. There is no way back. It’s time to adapt our lifestyle and business models to these incredible changes.
Future Of VR Technology In Medical Education
- Medical Training And Learning Through Virtual Reality
Medical training has shifted from the rote memorization of facts to imparting skills in order to arrive at a proper management strategy when challenged in real life. This training entails communication skills, problem-oriented learning through Virtual Reality.
Medical situations simulated through VR can challenge the students to deal with it as if in real life. This process is followed by feedback and debriefing allowing them to learn from their mistakes, if any. The affordability of the VR technology and the fact that faculty is not required to be present physically, makes learning through VR more accessible, flexible and broad-based.
Understanding how fractures occur and how they are aggravated through Virtual Reality content creation is of immense use to prospective orthopedic surgeons in training. Simulation-oriented learning through Virtual Reality is very effective for transferring skills to the future laparoscopic surgeons.
- Pain Management And Relaxation Through Virtual Reality Content Creation
Creators of virtual reality have made the technology useful in relieving pain and inducing a sense of relaxation to patients with excruciating pain, such as the ones recovering from skin grafting, injuries and burns, even at making daily injections bearable for children.
Immersive learning through VR technology has been successful in effectively distracting and thus relieving intense pain of such patients, especially when the administration of anesthesia is contraindicated.
Farmoo app, a virtual reality video game has been developed by the students of Simon Fraser University for cancer patients to distract teen cancer patients from the pain during chemotherapy treatments. The app helps them forget about their ailment for a while, and pull them towards a world created in virtual reality, significantly reducing pain and stress. It gives them hope, an illusion of a different life, and better circumstances.
- Physical Therapy And Rehabilitation With VR
Learning through virtual reality allows physical and neurology therapists to make the entire therapy process engaging and, more importantly, more effective than what it usually was.
Under medical research, patients do only 30% of the required mental exercises during rehabilitation which can be combined with the physical exercises in the virtual games and programs for every patient, including the neuro impaired.
Some VR devices can even track the quality of the patient’s activity, control it and even quantify the progress. What’s more amazing is that therapy through virtual reality creation motivates the patients much more than the regular physical exercises.
The Best Creators Of Virtual Reality In Education
XRVio has the best VR Content Creators to help transform the training/teaching and learning into a virtual realm, by incorporating virtual reality in education. They believe in allowing the students to dive into the deep waters and swim with the dolphins, act out dreams of being a pirate, have the opinionated students interact with ruthless emperors and kings, fearlessly, and return to reality safe and alive. The creators of virtual reality at XRVio believe in creating a realistic and an interactive experience for students.
Need help to make VR videos? We would love to provide you with a helping hand, or for anyone who is working with real-time technology. From design visualizations and cinematic experiences to high-quality games, we provide 360 degrees VR solutions – everything you need to start, ship, and grow your product in the market.
- Treatment Of Phobias And Post-Traumatic Disorders With VR
VR video content can be used to treat fears, phobias and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Through virtual reality content creation, patients are faced with their fears slowly and in a way that they can completely overcome the fear/ disorders.
Developed at the University of Southern California – Institute for Creative Technologies, Bravemind is a VR-based mobile app that helps treating phobias and post-traumatic stress disorders (PTSD). Bravemind allows therapists / psychologists/ psychiatrists to immerse patients with PTSD into the VR creation, each tailored to fit the needs of the patient who is faced with their traumatic experiences. The therapist closely monitors all the brain activities of the patients as they revisit their traumatic experiences. It is through these virtual reality apps that the doctors understand the patient’s brain and their biological factors causing PTSD in each case and serve a better line of treatment.
- Cognitive Recovery And Rehabilitation With VR
Virtual reality accelerates the recovery process and cognitive rehabilitation for patients. Patients with cognitive disabilities caused by brain injury often lack abilities and motivation to participate in the rehabilitation, and can have effective treatment through VR creation.
Patients get an immersive experience where they engage with the virtual environment and practice tasks that they consider hard in reality.
There already exists a virtual reality based neurorehabilitation gaming system that helps patients with their motor and cognitive recovery. VR devices record and monitor all activities, personalize the virtual experience catering to each patient’s needs and hence, possess the ability to accelerate their recovery process. VR also helps to regain muscle control. Patients become stronger, better, and recover fully.
- Using VR In Dental Practice
With Virtual reality creation, dentists can now create a virtual prototype of their patient’s mouth for research, experimentation or pre-treatment tricks. This helps to increase the effectiveness of dental treatment since the dentist would have already experimented with the virtual prototype and arrived at the best solution, and accelerate the process. An alternate way of applying the VR technology in dental practice is by using VR glasses and headsets to distract patients from their fears and apprehensions during the treatment at the dentists
- Patients Prefer Using Home VR Systems To The Endless Hospital Stays
The compulsion to stay at the hospital in case of a long-term treatment is always stressful for patients, especially small children missing their parents and friends they play with. Virtual reality creations can distract them and help them cope with the stress caused by having to stay at the hospital.
Also, virtual reality companies specializing in healthcare make it easier for friends and relatives to maintain strong communications with their hospitalized friends and relatives. This is particularly useful for relatives and friends who live at a distance and are interested in knowing the patient’s well being. This not only keeps the patient in touch with their loved ones, but also entertained and positive.
Virtual reality creation can only get better the way it’s adding value to life by cutting out all the unnecessary stress. This is what makes life better and worth living.
Which Are The Best Virtual Reality Companies In India For Healthcare
XRVio has the best VR Content Creators to help transform the healthcare realm, by incorporating learning through virtual reality. They believe in providing the viewers i.e. the prospective doctors and therapists nothing short of an immersive experience. The creators of virtual reality at XRVio believe in providing a realistic and an interactive experience through their VR creation.
FAQs
Learning through virtual reality provides the students and professionals seeking in depth knowledge with an opportunity to experience technology, in contrast to the traditional methods of reading and writing, and trial and error since surgeons are required to perform surgeries.
The fact that VR technology enables patients to visit extraordinary locations within the four walls of the hospital room, speak and interact with their loved ones is completely unique and thrilling and hence, helps a lot in helping the patients to stay well and not lose hope.
The immersive experience of learning through VR is unparalleled while training. Dentists can make a prototype of their patient’s mouth for research, experimentation and learn tricks that could make the surgery/ treatment easier and less painful. This helps to increase the effectiveness of dental treatment since the dentist would have already experimented multiple times with the virtual prototype before arriving at the best solution, and therefore, accelerating the entire process.
With the COVID-19 pandemic, patients are delaying their visits to the doctor, apprehensive of being exposed to, or catching a new pathogen or the deadly virus itself. Doctors too advised patients to stay at home, and encouraged video consultations, instead of in-person.
In such scenarios patients opted for a VR based consultation in case of injuries or skin rashes/ scalp conditions, baldness etc, where the patients required the doctor to see them. These were successful as both the patients as well as the doctors seemed satisfied with the consultation and the line of treatment advised.
Safe to say that sky’s the limit. Biology enthusiasts will be able to get unrealistically close to wild animals, considering how dangerous they are, observe and explore their anatomy. The animal lovers could even pet and cuddle with them without being eaten up alive. The chemistry enthusiasts on the other hand will be able to freely experiment with toxic, hazardous and even explosive chemicals and devices, safely, which otherwise they would be asked to avoid or just read about to gather the required information. Surgeons will be able to perform multiple surgeries without actually having to cut open anyone or come into contact with blood. They would be able to master the art of performing a surgery, without actually performing any surgery at all.
The traditional style of studying involved rote learning information directly from the textbook. However, learning through virtual reality involves students going through the experience and answering questions in the examinations from a place of experience making their answers highly detailed and wholesome.
Testimonials
To be honest, we were initially skeptical about introducing this new VR technology to children in the hospital; however, the VR content provided to us by XRVio was mind blowing! Children are usually extremely difficult to deal with in hospitals, away from their parents and friends. They can not play, can’t eat their favourite food, what do they do? How do we keep them entertained?
The VR creations by XRVio, was no less than a boon. The patients seemed less upset and in a better mood, took medication on time. They were basically less resistant to the treatment.
Usage of VR in the healthcare industry is a real game changer.
~ Sonakshi Manchanda, pediatrician.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a terrible impact on mental health. With the schools closing down and the adults being laid off from their jobs, the entire world came to a stand still. The world was going through a mental health crisis, besides the pandemic. The psychiatrists and psychologists including me, began leveraging the VR technology.
Our patients can not go travelling, but we managed to bring unique destinations to them. The best Virtual Reality companies in India, XRVio came to my rescue. The VR creations that they provided helped destress my patients, helped me form a strong rapport with them.
The benefits of VR in the healthcare industry are enormous
~ Komal Sood, Psychiatrist.