VR virtual reality in healthcare
Virtual reality has a long history. In the 18th century, doctors in France used cloth birth simulators to teach medical techniques to midwives and surgeons. In the early 1960s, doctors used a plastic doll manufactured by a plastic toy manufacturer to demonstrate chest compressions and artificial respiration while dictating cardiopulmonary resuscitation techniques to CPR trainees, forming early medical simulation teaching.
With the development of science and technology, VR has emerged as a more advanced tool, and its emergence has strengthened and upgraded medical teaching simulations. VR healthcare solutions allow patients to benefit from more advanced and accurate surgical simulations and psychiatric treatment simulations, and virtual reality is redefining what is possible in the healthcare industry. Virtual reality also allows healthcare professionals to work more efficiently and safely, improving the patient experience.
Research shows that by 2025, the expected growth of AR and VR in the healthcare field will reach a compound annual growth rate of 30.7%, and the key growth area will be VR medical solutions. The following are 5 applications of VR virtual reality in the field of healthcare, let’s take a look!
01 Surgeon training
It is almost impossible for surgeons to practice surgeries on real patients, but using VR hardware and software facilities, the medical virtual simulation system provides surgical students with a safe and controllable practice environment, which allows surgical students to Doctors learn new skills or practice existing skills. With realistic surgical simulators, medical students can better prepare for surgery on real-life patients through a realistic surgical environment.
A study shows that a virtual reality medical simulation platform makes it easier for medical students to practice surgical procedures. The operation speed is 29% faster, the chance of errors is reduced by 6 times, the likelihood of significant improvement in skills is increased by 9 times, and hand-eye coordination is also significantly improved. .
02 Surgical robot
Surgical robots are solutions built at the intersection of robotics and virtual reality. The robot uses only a small opening, an incision as small as 1.5 centimeters, to insert the camera and robotic instruments, and then hands over management to the human doctor. The primary purpose of the robot is to maximize surgical visualization and precision during minimally invasive, robot-assisted surgery. Using VR headsets, doctors can be fully immersed in the patient's internal environment and have a full 360-degree view. The robot's arms are also designed to replicate the movements of a surgeon's body, from shoulders to wrists.
03 Preoperative planning
Another area where doctors are using VR involves pre-operative planning. For example, Surgical Theater has developed a so-called "surgical rehearsal platform" that can be used for precise VR in neurosurgery. With this solution, both patients and doctors can experience and practice upcoming surgeries in VR in advance, and fully understand the surgical environment. Preoperative planning in VR can reduce uncertainty, help reduce doctor and patient anxiety, and help doctors and patients prepare for surgery in advance.
Currently, Stanford University School of Medicine, St. Joseph's Children's Hospital, Mayo Clinic and UCLA School of Medicine are already using this solution.
04 Chronic Pain Treatment
In a virtual environment, through a combination of physical and cognitive retraining, the brain begins to learn again, seeing and reacting to painful actions from a different perspective, no longer forcing the body to feel pain, and helping to treat chronic pain through simulation.
05 Mental disorders and fear treatment
Virtual reality VR in the field of mental health has also achieved remarkable results in helping patients treat mental disorders, fears and various syndromes. Let’s take a look at some of the solutions currently on the market.
VR virtual reality is also being used to help patients manage mental disorders. One of the companies providing VR solutions to combat mental health issues is Oxford VR, which won the 2020 award for Best Immersive Technology for Mental Health at the Healthcare Technology Visionary Awards.
Oxford VR is a technology partner of the UK’s National Health Service and the MacPin Foundation, among others. The company focuses on virtual reality technology to alleviate symptoms of mental disorders. For example, one of its solutions is designed to help patients overcome social-induced fears and anxieties.
Social avoidance is prevalent in many conditions, such as depression or panic disorder, and VR simulations help patients combat this fear by allowing them to engage and interact socially in a safe and controlled environment. For example, patients experienced an average 68% reduction in anxiety just two hours after being exposed to a treatment for acrophobia.
Overall, it’s great to see that a technology that was once mistakenly thought to be only suitable for gaming has now been accepted and recognized by highly regulated and demanding industries like medical, and I hope that VR can penetrate more industries. , allowing more and more medical institutions to use VR virtual reality to treat patients and help doctors improve medical services.
3DCAT real-time rendering cloud has always been at the forefront of cloudized Windows, Android devices) into a high-definition XR display that displays professional-quality images. Users can use 3DCAT cloud rendering power to obtain a high-definition streaming experience without deploying a workstation or external VR tracking system.
Uploading the virtual reality VR application to the 3DCAT real-time rendering cloud platform and building a digital human body teaching application on the cloud can digitize, visualize and interactively display the structure and functions of the human body, greatly improving the quality of teaching.
The content of this article "5 Applications of Virtual Reality (VR) in Healthcare" is compiled and published by 3DCAT real-time cloud rendering solution provider . If you need to reprint, please indicate the source and link.