Because of its unique ability to place real people inside a computer-generated environment, virtual reality has become a driving force in rethinking established standards. This article explains the applicability of virtual reality in medicine.
What is VR?
Virtual reality (VR) is the technology that enables a person to recreate a situation or experience of interest using a VR headset while doing so within an interactive but computer-generated environment. Because of the immersive nature of the simulation, the user may be required to wear special goggles or gloves that provide sensory input in order to make the most of their time spent in the virtual world and learn from their experiences there.
Many subfields of medicine use virtual reality technology for a wide range of diagnostic and treatment purposes. Patients need to be treated, medical products need to be marketed, and the general public has to be educated about diseases, medical conditions, and medical procedures. These are the various aspects of medical education.
Why VR is going to be a big part of healthcare
For decades, medical professionals have investigated the use of VR for the management of pain as well as for a variety of other applications. However, thanks to recent developments in technology, the hardware is now less expensive, more compact, quicker, more reliable, and simpler to operate. This indicates that you should anticipate seeing an increasing number of alternatives for the therapeutic use of VR.
Application of VR in medicine
With an interactive and research-driven approach, virtual reality technology in medicine appears to have a bright future both now and in the future. As virtual reality (VR) continues its march toward widespread adoption across a variety of industries, the growth that has already been achieved is anticipated to accelerate significantly over the next several years. Recent applications of virtual reality in the field of medicine include;
- Treatment of patients
- Medical Training
- Addictions
- Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation
- Fitness
- Health Education
- Marketing
Treatment of patients
Virtual reality is helpful when planning ahead for complicated surgeries, like neurosurgical procedures, because it lets the surgical team walk through the whole operation and practice what they plan to do.
This makes things safer by reducing the number of surprises. CT, MRI, and ultrasound scans, as well as VR and haptics, are used to gather the data. When the reconstruction is in a surgical setting, it looks and feels like the real patient.
VR is also very important in surgical robotics, where a surgeon at a console controls a robotic arm. The camera that is placed inside the body gives the surgeon a view of the area that is being operated on. But tactile and sensory feedback is also important during surgery, and VR may be able to do a good job of simulating them when they aren’t there.
People with phobias, for example, and their therapists both find VR to be very helpful. For clients with agoraphobia or acrophobia, for example, the therapist may re-create a similar situation in his or her own center to help the client face it bit by bit. This is also true for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
So, VR offers the practical benefits of on-site coaching, and progressive exposure therapy is made more effective by adding the actual sensory experience of the trigger situation.
This is combined with the ease and privacy of a therapy center, which costs much less in terms of time, travel, and being tired. It can also be done again and again, getting harder each time.
Medical Training
Medical training has changed from teaching people to memorize facts to teaching them how to use facts to figure out the best way to treat a patient. This training includes learning how to solve problems, how communicate, and learn through virtual reality.
VR can be used to simulate any kind of medical situation so that students can learn how to handle it as if it were real. Then they get feedback and a debriefing so they can learn from any mistakes they made. Because VR systems are cheap and teachers don’t have to be there, access is more flexible and wide-ranging.
VR can help doctors see what’s going on inside a person’s body, letting them see parts that would be hard to get to otherwise. For one, medical students no longer have to cut up dead bodies to learn about the human body. Instead, they can use virtual reality (VR) to learn about human anatomy.
Computer graphics have made it possible to recreate any part of the body very accurately and in great detail. Also, training can be done with scenarios that are very close to what happens in real surgeries.
For example, real-life surgeries can be filmed from multiple angles and in stunning quality. Then, the videos can be put together with models of the body part being operated on so that the student can “operate” in VR.
Orthopedic surgeons in training can learn a lot from understanding how fractures happen and how they get worse in real life. Since minimally invasive surgery is a great way to cut down on costs, complications, and recovery time, simulation-based VR training is a great way to teach aspiring laparoscopic surgeons how to do their jobs.
In fact, the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) said that this type of training is better than trying to treat patients in real life because it has been successful at giving standardized training in invasive monitoring and mechanical ventilation.
The same is true for learning how to use sutures in the operating room and in orthopedic surgeries, where VR with tactile and sensory feedback is found to be safe, repeatable, and cheaper than traditional training.
The high cost of these VR environments, which includes the cost of monitors, programming, and other tools needed for training, could be made up for by having more students in each program. But the results of VR are clearly better because it gives more accurate information.
Addictions
With the support of gradual exposure techniques and coaching on how to respond to addiction cravings, medical virtual reality can be helpful in aiding recovery from substance addiction. With the patient’s familiar surroundings serving as a stand-in for the real world, the patient may be more prepared to deal with the actual triggers.
Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation
Virtual reality can also help patients get better faster during physical therapy by making it easier for them to do their exercises. This is because VR takes the patient’s mind off the pain and puts them in a different reality that keeps them interested, motivates them, and pushes them to finish the activity.
So, people who have had a stroke and are recovering may be able to practice certain movements without the risk of falling and hurting themselves more. This will give them more confidence when they have to move around in their real environment.
Fitness
There are a ton of fitness applications out there that employ VR to make working out more engaging. They make working out more fun by immersing the user in an attractive environment or by providing goals and prizes or feedback on the user’s motions.
Health Education
Once again, virtual reality saves the day for patients who require help grasping their medical condition by giving a clear and comprehensive reconstruction of the relevant organs and tissues. Because of this, the patient is better able to understand the treatment’s fundamentals, which in turn boosts their level of contentment with the intervention.
Virtual reality (VR) has the potential to be the most effective medium for conveying information about the physiological effects of unhealthy behaviors and harmful substances, such as the development of cancer, the effects of obesity and related metabolic dysfunctions, and the effects of smoking and alcohol use on respiratory and hepatic systems.
Marketing
Modern medicine depends a lot on marketing. Virtual reality makes it possible for doctors to share their knowledge with patients and for patients to tell their doctors about their experiences without using words. This allows for powerful and effective communication, a better understanding of disease and possible treatments, and a better understanding of the disease itself.
Things to note
In terms of how it can be used in medicine, VR is still in its early stages. VR is likely to be used more and more in the future to improve the safety and effectiveness of surgical procedures, especially those that are minimally invasive or non-invasive and to learn more about how the human body works.
On the other hand, there are no large-scale studies that show its benefits, and it might be confusing and addicting. Also, if low-quality VR tools are used, the patient may not learn as well and may even be put in danger.
Conclusion
Now that the trial-and-error method is over, a smart cure is close at hand. Virtual reality is the healthcare solution of the future, and it is almost ready for use. So, are you ready to leave behind old ways and try something smarter?
