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Advancements in technology have led to a new revolution in the healthcare sector, paving ways to innovate medical devices and surgical techniques that hold immense promise for saving and improving patient lives. The industry is now realizing and capitalizing on Virtual Reality (VR) for a wide range of medical practices. The technology is the use of a headset that replaces the real world with a digitally rendered environment.

In healthcare, VR has proved to be an exceptional way of training medical professionals. As the current system of training and assessing surgeons has lagged behind the pace of innovation and leaving some doctors improvised to perform intricate surgeries that could put patients at risk, VR plays a significant role in addressing these absences and improving skills.

By leveraging this technology, medical professionals can cost-effectively learn on new techniques and technologies as it ensures consistency and eliminates the need to take important equipment out of service.

Training with In-Depth Understanding

Virtual reality uses computer technology to generate a simulated environment, placing the user inside an experience. In healthcare, it has the potential to directly address the skills gap by offering immersive, hands-on training that closely mimics an operating room environment. VR also provides portable, on-demand training that can be performed anytime, anywhere.

Moreover, VR-enabled tools involve checklist-style assessment measures to objectively scale out surgical ability, taking the procedure outside the realm of human subjectivity. These tools offer a highly measured picture of what surgeons are performing correctly and detect areas for improvement.

Understanding its potential, several healthcare centers and universities worldwide have successfully leveraged VR-based training for years.

For instance, Immerse, a VR-based company, has been working with GE Healthcare to develop a VR training tool to complete computed tomography coronary angiography (CTCA) scans. According to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) clinical guidelines, CTCA is the first line of investigation for patients with chest pain in both typical and atypical circumstances.

VR is also assisting doctors in learning how to be more empathetic. Embodied Labs, an experiential education design company for healthcare trainees and professionals, for instance, has created a VR platform particularly to train caregivers who work with older adults.

The technology also provides opportunities for students to practice their skills wherever they are. In a study by UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine, researchers found an improvement in participants’ overall surgical performance by 230 percent using VR training, compared with traditional training methods.

Thus, the technology is so effective in the context of healthcare training as it is completely engaging and immersive, and is precisely replicating the experience of addressing a different variety of patients and equipment. Also, as VR has a critical role to play in the future of medical training, the adoption of this technology in this domain is still in its early phase.