Virtual Reality in healthcare

  Virtual Reality in healthcare

Virtual Reality in healthcare is an immersive experience that can be used to transport patients to a place beyond the clinical setting. By use of virtual Reality headset, patients can experience realistic, three-dimensional worlds that aim to reduce the clinic visit anxiety, stress, and teaching patients new skills. On the other hand, Virtual Reality can be used in classrooms to enhance student learning and engagement. Additionally, Virtual Reality can transform the way educational content is delivered; it works on the premise of creating a virtual world while allowing users to interact with it. Healthcare and education are both professional fields heavily impacted by Virtual Reality whereby in healthcare, it is used in a wide range extending from diagnosis, treatment, and training of next-generation medical personnel, while in education Virtual Reality is applied in more or less in training to enhance learning and engagement in efforts to deliver quality education.

In healthcare, Virtual Reality is applied to analyze the use of emerging 3D computer technology in relieving pain in physically impaired conditions including burns victims, phantom limb patients, and amputees, during medical and therapy procedures. Dascal et al, (2017) suggest that virtual reality (VR) has been proved to be an effective instrument in healthcare, established on many clinical trials.  Dascal et al, (2017 p. 14) state that  “It is way past the question of whether Virtual Reality is a novelty or not, it is undoubtedly a real, effective therapy and neuroscience bears that out in several different, interesting ways, as do clinical outcomes. We see it as a profound tool to alter human perception in a way that is beneficial for improving the quality of life and functional status.”

Dascal et al., (2017) further affirm that Virtual Reality in healthcare objectives is to generate a new sort of healing setting for the patients. The VR goal is not for individuals to living in a fantastical world, but to spend shorter periods in the therapeutic situations where they can learn new abilities and techniques that can be brought into the actual world.

Tashjian et al., (2017) states that currently, VR operates in about four major sets in healthcare: promotion of relaxation and calm. Tashjian et al., (2017 p. 9) suggests that “technology mimics what meditation achieves in other cognitive-behavioral therapies. Using VR in this manner helps patients suffering from anxiety and depression, as well as phobias and other mental health issues.” Tashjian et al., (2017) further affirm that VR can assist patients to link well with the reality. VR in the healthcare field can provisionally relink a patient suffering from hallucinations and dementia with reality. Healthcare professional uses VR to assist patients suffering from hallucinations to differentiate between reality and hallucination.

Moreover, Tashjian et al., (2017 reveal that VR can be used to relieve pain. Researchers have tested VR for pain from particular infections, abdominal pain, and severe back pain. The studies also depict that 24 percent of pain is reduced after 10 minutes of applying a distinctive pain-specific application known as Pain reliever. This program teaches the patients how to best they can cope with pain through positive thinking and breathing techniques. Besides, VR can be used to adjust the awareness of patient to the bodily signals. This technology can assist patients suffering from chronic pain or struggling with managing weight through dampening signals.

Birckhead et al., (2019) further suggest that VR is an effective training tool in healthcare.  Birckhead et al., (2019 p. 11973) states that “VR provides an immersive training experience for doctors when it comes to congenital heart defects….Before VR, doctors usually resorted to drawing representations of the defect, which often do not look like the real thing….some healthcare professionals wondered what it would be like to examine a three-dimensional version of a defect.” Besides, Stanford Virtual Heart is a specific VR that portrays hereditary heart defects in form of 3D while exposing doctors to a more accurate version of a hereditary heart defect that, eventually, can assist them better clarify the situation to the patients.

Srivastava, Das & Chaudhury, (2014) suggest that despite some challenges, VR serves critical roles. One problem with the use of VR in healthcare results from technical challenges associated with the equipment itself. Some headsets require a smartphone to be retorted into the front of the headset, however, some patients find the goggles heavy, uncomfortable, and hard to fit. Srivastava, Das & Chaudhury, (2014 p. 83) further notes that “in a study published in 2016 that another hurdle for VR in healthcare comes from the patients themselves. Out of 510 hospitalized patients used in the study, only 30 were eligible and willing to use the technology. Nearly 83% of the 510 patients evaluated for the study were not able to use VR because they suffered from disqualifying criteria, including motion sickness and seizures. Others opted out of the study due to anxiety about using VR.”

Another problem with healthcare VR is paying for this technology. The insurance companies are not willing to pay medical bills for the VR treatment. As an alternative, financing a VR program frequently falls to the facility itself. However, as the technology continues to develop, enhancement in the VR equipment usability in the previous years is evident. The hardware is now pretty less bulky and its software easier to navigate. Therefore, with more advancement, technology has been easier for patients across abilities to use and ages. Srivastava, Das & Chaudhury, (2014 p. 83) further put forward the fact that “While there are still VR in healthcare implementation hurdles to overcome, this tool can enhance the doctor-patient relationship…most technologies strip the humanity from healthcare, but VR is different. It has profound philosophical implications. When it is used correctly, it causes an individual to rethink what it means to be able to manipulate your body through your mind.”

On the other hand, in the period of digital devices, there is an opportunity to facilitate better education with technology. Virtual Reality (VR) appears to be the ordinary subsequent step for the education evolution.

Before the invention of computers, there was a powerful tool that assisted in retaining facts: books. However, in the period of digital technologies, these books are constantly turned into eBooks. The contemporary search engines make the facts-finding easier; with a few clicks, one can discover answers to various questions. Although knowledge is now easily available for most people, the current methodology to learning has two substantial problems: It is based on the same old format, that is, fact retention and most people have difficulties in comprehending the information.

Contrary to VR in healthcare, some properties enable Virtual Reality in education to be regarded as so powerful.  For instance, VR in education provides an enhanced sense of place. Fowler, (2015 p. 412) suggests that “When learners read about a topic, they often want to experience it. With VR, they are not limited to book illustrations or words; they can explore the content and see how stuff is put together… students can learn about a subject by living it. It is also easy to forget that VR experiences are not a body that believes it is in a new place. This feeling remarkably engages the mind.”

VR further scales learning experiences. Technologies, for example, science labs are incredible since they enable students to understand how stuffs work constructed on practical experience. Otherwise, a comparatively small VR device can act as the entire science lab, whereby such technologies are generally expensive and nearly not possible to scale. They tend to be also limited in the number of practicals they can be used for.

Moreover, it is a reality that people learn best while undertaking practicals; but if modern education is evaluated, the results will show how small-scale learning happens through practicals. The students tend to be more focused on reading instructions other than applying them in practice. The VR in education offers an experience for students anchor to instruction. With the VR education, the students are encouraged to learn for themselves. The learners have a chance to learn by undertaking practicals other than just passively reading.

Virtual reality enables the emotional reaction to the students contrary to the patients in a healthcare setting. For instance, intuitive reactions to what someone is experiencing are essential to memories formation. VR in education has enabled easy engagement with students every time while making experiences memorable. Virtual reality in education also sparks creativity development, an aspect which is not common with a healthcare setting. Therefore, Having Virtual Reality in education is critical for content consumption and awesome for content creation. For example, through providing students with powerful tools the likes of Tilt Brush, help them enhance their creativity.

Virtual Reality also enables visual learning for most of the learners who are typically visual learners. As a substitute for reading about some theoretical stuff, VR enables students to see those stuff they used to learn about theoretically. Moreover, the learner’s capacity to visualize complex mechanisms or functions renders them easier to understand.

Further, contrary to the healthcare setting whereby the patients seem to be reluctant to using VR on their own, the VR users in the education field seem to be ready to embrace this new technology. Gadelha, (2018), states that “the first idea that pops into individuals’ mind when they think about VR technology is just an entertainment experience. Several designers perceive VR as an extension of the gaming industry… It is a fact that VR has historically been devoted to gaming, but currently, things are changing. According to a recent survey conducted by Greenlight VR, desire for education outweighs the desire for gaming content — 63.9 percent vs. 61 percent” (Gadelha, 2018). Virtual technology creates an immersive experience that assists learners to learn effectively. Research has proven that the immersion of learners in the virtual world enables them to learn better. Such learning activities do not seem like working physically and the students enjoy the learning process that increases their motivation. Besides, Virtual Reality can change and motivate learners towards academic achievement. By the use of Virtual Reality can make the processes and situations described in academic to become real.

Similar to Virtual Reality in the healthcare field, VR in education has some disadvantages. For instance, deterioration of human connections is evident since the individual interactions are more on the Virtual Reality representations in education than one on one interaction. Hicks, (2016) suggests that VR in education lacks flexibility.“If in class you can be flexible, ask questions, receive answers, using a virtual reality headset is a different experience” (Hicks, 2016).  When using a particular software that has been programmed to function precisely the same, one cannot be able to perform anything else apart from what is supposed to be done.

However, in both fields, VR has functionality issues. Hicks, (2016  pr. 12) writes, “Like with any programmed software, things can often go wrong. When things go wrong, your students’ learning activity is over until the tool is fixed. This can be quite expensive and also inconvenient” (Hicks, 2016  pr. 12). Therefore, if a learner has exams the following day and the Virtual Reality headset booms, the learner can be unable to learn and maybe pass that exam. Furthermore, in both fields, VR appears to be quite expensive. The fact remains that advanced technology is the most expensive. Velev & Zlateva (2017) state that if one wishes to expand the Virtual Reality trend and attempt to reach the masses, there is a need to spend a lot of funds on the features.

This research has found that in both healthcare and education, Virtual Reality impacts these field differently, whereby in healthcare, it is used in a wide range extending from diagnosis, treatment, and training of next-generation medical personnel, while in education Virtual Reality is applied in more or less in training to improve learning and commitment in efforts to deliver quality education. The research also shows that both fields use divers VR tools that specific to a particular task. It also appears that patients face more difficulties in using VR while the students, on the other hand, are impressed with the technology. Furthermore, in both fields, VR appears to be quite expensive. The fact remains that advanced technology is the most expensive. If one wishes to expand the Virtual Reality trend and attempt to reach the masses, there is a need to spend a lot of funds on the features.

References

Birckhead, B., Khalil, C., Liu, X., Conovitz, S., Rizzo, A., Danovitch, I., … & Spiegel, B. (2019).             Recommendations for the methodology of virtual reality clinical trials in health care by an international working group: iterative study. JMIR mental health, 6(1), e11973.

Dascal, J., Reid, M., IsHak, W. W., Spiegel, B., Recacho, J., Rosen, B., & Danovitch, I. (2017).   Virtual reality and medical inpatients: a systematic review of randomized, controlled trials. Innovations in clinical neuroscience, 14(1-2), p. 14.

Fowler, C. (2015). Virtual reality and learning: Where is the pedagogy?. British journal of educational technology, 46(2), pp. 412-422.

Gadelha, R. (2018). Revolutionizing Education: The promise of virtual reality. Childhood             Education, 94(1), pp. 40-43.

Hicks, P. (2016). The pros and cons of using virtual reality in the classroom. eLearning Industry.

Srivastava, K., Das, R. C., & Chaudhury, S. (2014). Virtual reality applications in mental health: Challenges and perspectives. Industrial psychiatry journal, 23(2), p. 83.

Tashjian, V. C., Mosadeghi, S., Howard, A. R., Lopez, M., Dupuy, T., Reid, M., … & Rosen, B. (2017). Virtual reality for management of pain in hospitalized patients: results of a controlled trial. JMIR mental health, 4(1), e9.

Velev, D., & Zlateva, P. (2017). Virtual reality challenges in education and            training. International Journal of Learning and Teaching, 3(1), pp. 33-37.