Virtual Reality in Health Care

The use of virtual reality technology in the medical field has led to new procedures occurring in both surgery as well as patient recovery.  Although virtual reality has not been fully implemented into the healthcare profession due to its recent arrival, it is creating various advantages to the areas it is introduced.

In the medical world today, potential students are required to understand how to perform  surgical procedures depending on which medical field they are in such as a dentist or a surgeon. With the help of virtual reality students can learn these procedures with both visual and audible stimulation. Virtual reality allows these trainees to physically see what they will experience in a real life situation and allow them to practice in this simulation with the benefit of feedback according to how the student performed. Depending on the program, this feedback will be shown through actual audio as well as through visual feedback. This will point out where there was a mistake in the procedure and how it can be improved.

In terms of patient recovery, virtual reality is able to mentally heal patients to a further extent than what normal therapy is able to. A major area where virtual reality is implemented to help with recovery is in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder. Soldiers who experience this disorder are put into a virtual world where they are slowly introduced to factors causing the stress allowing them to build a tolerance for it. It is also useful for phantom limb pain where patients experience pain after losing a limb. VR helps in the same way mirror therapy does by creating an illusion to the brain of a fake limb relieving the pain.

Author: Brandon Crafford

References:

1.   Senson,A.(2015). Virtual Reality In Healthcare: Where’s The Innovation? [online]. Available at: http://techcrunch.com/2015/09/16/virtual-reality-in-healthcare-wheres-the-innovation/ [Accessed 27 April 2016]

2.   Unknown Author (2015). Virtual Reality in Healthcare. [online]. Available at: http://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality-healthcare/ [Accessed 27 April 2016] Carson, E (2015). 10 ways virtual reality is revolutionizing medicine and healthcare. [online]. Available at: http://www.techrepublic.com/article/10-ways-virtual-reality-is-revolutionizing-medicine-and-healthcare/ [Accessed 27 April 2016]