Imagine if you could simply put on a headset and stare into a portal that allows you to see inside of the human body. Or, wearing the same headset while working out could allow you to imagine you’re doing so on the beach. This is the reality of how virtual reality in healthcare is being used, and it is growing in popularity. It’s affecting everything from the way pharmaceuticals are marketed to how physicians are being trained. It is drastically changing the patient experience by providing new ways for physicians to treat and educate them. Virtual reality is a computer-generated simulation of a three-dimensional image that allows users to interact with it as if they are actually there. Here are just a few examples of how virtual reality has changed the landscape in healthcare today, and we’re sure to see many more changes in the years to come.
Virtual Reality in Medical Marketing
Virtual reality is used in marketing across all industries, and healthcare is no exception. For example, in one marketing campaign, people who suffer from migraines could select the symptoms they experience. They then gave the virtual reality headset to someone who’s never had a migraine. That way, that person who doesn’t get migraines could experience what someone with migraines goes through (without the pain, of course.)
Virtual Reality in Disease Awareness
In the same way that virtual reality can show non-migraine suffers what the experience of having a migraine is like, it can also show doctors what patients with disease go through. For example, some have used virtual reality to show physicians firsthand what someone with Parkinson’s Disease goes through.
Virtual Reality in Medical Training
Virtual reality is giving students an entirely new experience when it comes to medical training. Instead of using cadavers, which don’t react or function the same way as a living being (obviously), students are able to use virtual reality to see the insides of a person and how they function. Although virtual reality doesn’t give the same hands on approach that working on a cadaver does, it gives a more authentic vision into what goes on inside the human body when you operate on it.
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Three Ways Virtual Reality in Healthcare is Transforming Patient Treatment
Virtual reality in healthcare is transforming certain areas of patient treatment as well. It will continue to delve into a variety of aspects, but here are just a few of the ways it’s already made a difference.
1. Improved Patient Education
Not only does virtual reality give medical students and doctors a new perspective, but it also gives that same vision to patients. Now, doctors can show patients exactly what’s going on inside of them. They can better explain the type of procedure they’re going to have done and why. This visual “tour,” if you will, of their surgery often makes patients feel better prepared. And that’s just one example of how virtual reality enhances patient education. This new technology is also transforming the way doctors treat patients.
2. A Walk-Through Psychology
For example, let’s talk psychology. For patients who seriously struggle with daily activities like going to the grocery store or any crowded, public space, let virtual reality take over. Instead of a psychiatrist going over some coping skills for the patient to use in those situations, now they enter the space together. Using virtual reality, doctors and patients are going grocery shopping. They’re going through those motions and getting specific examples of how to overcome anxieties.
3. More Fun in Physical Therapy
Now, onto a physical treatment plan. Virtual reality is also helping physical therapy patients. It gives them a space where they can practice their exercises without actually leaving their house. Allowing the patient to do their work out in a virtual setting makes it more fun, and they are more inclined to do it on a regular basis.
What are some things you’re seeing when it comes to virtual reality in healthcare? Share with us in the comments below!
